A Novel Idea

Clara had a read-in at school today. The kids were allowed to bring a pillow and stuffed animal to school, and they spent a huge chunk of the day reading. Clara was beside herself with excitement. She filled her backpack with 23 books (one to lend to every other student in the class, one for her teacher, and 3 options for herself. (Never mind that we had a major skirmish during breakfast because she made a big deal about how she was going to take one of Trevor's stuffed animals to school, which, of course, led to his protest and refusal to lend her the thing. In the end, she took a stuffed animal of her own, and Trevor clung desperately to the one that was rightfully his, but to which he had never shown an iota of interest until today.) ANYWAY, as we walked to school, Clara listed the titles of every book she had brought, and the name of the classmate for whom she had chosen each particular book (OCD, anyone?). I love Clara's thoughtfulness, and her desire to share her passions (like reading) with her friends. She is one of those kids, though, who gets her mind set on something, and has a hard time deviating from her plan. So, we butt heads with her at home constantly. At school, though, and just about everywhere else, Clara is everyone's darling. She has millions of friends, her teachers love her, and when she goes to play at other people's houses, we always get rave reviews about how polite and respectful she is. We are so proud of her. Problem is, at home she frequently lets it all hang out. I suppose we should just be glad that she knows how to smile and kiss babies in public. And we know that she is an amazing kid. We love her to the moon and back. She can just be a bit of a challenge.....

Chatting with her about the read-in and whatnot got me to thinking. We are always trying to find fun things to do at home that will be positive and harmonious. We want to be able to focus on how wonderful Clara is, and give her opportunities to shine. Along the way, we have discovered that one way to keep the less-than-desirable behaviors in check is to keep her engaged in something. Another way is to keep her in the public eye (because she wouldn't dream of going to the dark side with non-family around). So, I am going Oprah. I want to start a mother/daughter book club. I haven't googled the idea yet, but I'm sure that thousands of pioneers before me have blogged their experiences (so that I can read them all before going ahead and doing things my own way - control freak that I am - do you see where Clara gets it?) I'm pretty jazzed about the whole thing. I haven't been in a book club since before Clara was born, and even then, in my pre-kid days, I was always the one who hadn't quite finished the book (or, occassionally, hadn't quite started it). I mostly showed up for the chit chat and the food. But kid novels, I can get through those! Heck, I can even cheat and read them aloud to my class, so that I won't fall asleep reading!

Clara is going to love the idea of sharing a book with her friends, and I think that this will be a great bonding activity for us. I think we'll start with My Mother, Myself. Kidding, kidding.