Bookworm

I think it's safe to say I have a bookworm on my hands!  Serena hasn't been feeling the best this week.  I'm not sure if she's just feeling 'off' as a result of the time change, or maybe she's just still recovering from our crazy weekend, or maybe it's her molars that are bothering her again.  Quite possibly it is a combination of all three!  Anyway, she's been very...shall we say...needy.  I have logged an exorbitant number of hours reading to her this week!  Especially since her FAVORITE book this week is an anthology of nursery rhymes that is 89 pages long.  No joke.  This thing is a beast.  But she L.O.V.E.S. it!  The author was pretty brilliant and compiled them in a way that progresses like a story, and her illustrations help with the continuity and Serena has totally caught on to it.  She loves the characters and tries to keep track of them all throughout the book.  It's crazy!  So, I'm constantly barraged with the request, "Mommy, thee-thit book?  Mommy, thee-thit book?"  Sitting on my lap listening to book after book, she is happy and content; so, at the expense of my to-do list, that's what we've been doing!  Before this week, I had noticed that sometimes when reading to herself (which she hasn't really been doing this week), Serena will often stop at different points of the story to act something out.  Usually an action like jumping, running, spinning, falling, or splashing.  It's hilarious to watch!  So, this week, I've discovered one book in particular that is especially fun to read to her!  It's a Winnie-the-Pooh book (which she loves the Winnie-the-Pooh books!) about Tigger & Roo getting stuck in a tree.  Serena loves acting this one out because she's really into jumping (or, in this case, bouncing) right now!  She does little bounces for Roo and big bounces for Tigger.  She runs to find help (like Pooh & Piglet when they go get Christopher Robin) and even slides down the tree.  After each action, she repositions herself on my lap.  My absolute favorite was when I got to the part in the story where Tigger & Roo are at the tippy-top of the tree and look down and realize how high they are.  Serena had already 'bounced' up the tree and returned to my lap; but at this point, she hopped back up and contorted her body to look sort of like she was trying to hold onto a tree like Tigger was doing in the picture.  Her feet were at a wide stance, her knees were bent, her arms were out and slightly curved in, and she stuck her neck out and looked down her nose with such a funny expression!  I wanted to laugh so badly, but tried to act very naturally about it.  ;)  She amazes me with the stuff she comes up with!

I love this - she still sits with her ankles crossed

Playing on the couch 

Watching Serena

Helping me stir the bread dough.  She kept trying to taste it!??  I can't imagine it tasted very good!  :P

My brilliant idea for keeping Serena occupied while I cleaned up the kitchen after making  supper:  I stuck two dry spaghetti noodles in her sippie cup, then let her string O's on them.  Kept her good and busy!  Then, she ate each O one by one!  ;)