100th Book

When I was a student, I don't ever recall there being any celebration of the 100th day of school, but for quite a few years now it has been the norm to make a big deal about that day in the younger grades. Since I haven't been keeping track of our school days yet, I have no idea when our 100th day of school was. Maybe in 2016 when I'll have to start submitting paperwork we can keep track of our days of school and have a big celebration of the 100th day in the winter of 2017. Nadia would be 8, Ian would be 7, and Oliver would be 4 years old. I have however been keeping track of the chapter books I've read to the kids thus far, and yesterday we finished our 100th book (started reading them chapter books a little more than two years ago). Our 100th book happened to be Mary Poppins. I am not certain if I had read the book before. I know that movies based on books very rarely follow the book closely, but I was surprised that the personality of Mary seemed rather different in the book than is portrayed in the movie. My favorites from our first 100 books would include Heidi, Secret Garden, and Anne of Green Gables. I hope all three of my kids love reading for the rest of their lives! We're almost done with book #101, and I am planning on reading them A Little Princess next, which was another of my all time favorites as a child! I was a voracious reader as a child, and I have to say that reading to my kids is one of my favorite parts of being a mommy. When I have two kids on my lap and a third sitting next to me on the couch while I am reading them a picture book, I feel an incredible sense of love and contentment.

Of course not all aspects of motherhood are pleasurable. Some are just downright unpleasant. Ian wins the prize of the three kids for making the most messes as a toddler when it came to dumping toy bins or clearing off book shelves, but Oliver wins the prize by a long shot when it comes to making messes at the kitchen table and in the bathroom. He spills more glasses of milk than the other two kids put together, and sadly sometimes he spills a glass or dumps a bowl or plate of food ON PURPOSE, which is something the other two NEVER did. Oi vey! I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled milk, but let me tell you I will be very grateful when we get to the point when I'm not cleaning up a spilled glass of milk on average 2-3 times a day. This morning while I was cleaning up one said mess (at least it was an accident this time), Oliver went to the bathroom without asking for my help and this resulted in pee on the floor (which I discovered as I stepped in it and my nylons got wet) and a toilet FULL of toilet paper. I clean up Oliver's messes 99% of the time, but I asked Paul to handle that one this morning. This child has smeared poop on the toilet seat SO many times (far more than his siblings ever did). It even happened on Thursday when we were using the bathroom at the consignment shop. Lovely. Thankfully they did have paper towels in the bathroom that I could use to clean up the mess. I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

As you can see from these pics, Oliver loves wearing hats and glasses. He wears them many times a day. A black cowboy hat is his favorite, but there are several he's been wearing around the house lately. All three kids love ice cream. It's no shock that Oliver and Nadia do, but Ian has finally gotten over his aversion to hard ice cream. He used to refuse to eat it because it was too cold. I used to be the only one who would eat ice cream in our house, but Paul has taken to eating butter pecan so ice cream doesn't last very long in this house now that all five of us are eating it!