Spills and Spiels

How Do I love You

How do I love you?
Let me count the ways.

I love you as the sun
loves the bright blue days.

This beautifully written book by Marione Dane Bauer and illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church is Sam’s “peeping” time book.  Lest you think Sam is a peeping tom in the making, “peeping” is Sam’s term for “sleeping”.  He’s still having a bit of a trouble with his S’s and L’s.

In the evening, Sam would go “Peeping, peeping. Dede.” And once he’s comfortably settled on the bed with his milk, he’d say, “Book!”

Looking for a bedtime story or sleeping time story book (yup! we read it whenever he wants to go to sleep even in the mid-afternoon nap time) is not easy.  We started with Rainbow Fish by Marucs Pfister when he was just a few months old.  It was Sam’s favorite that it’s already in tatters.  I found How Do I Love You in the chaotically-arranged bookshelves of PNC Bookstore here in Saigon.  It was serendipity.  Seriously, if you visit the bookstores here, you would understand that looking for the book you need is like finding 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife, as Alanis Morrisette would put it.

I love you as the bee
loves a fragrant flower.

I love you as the thirsty duck
loves a sudden shower.

I like the fact that the book is actually a poem because I absolutely love poetry!  And exposing Sam to poetry is one of my goals as a mom.  The lyrical sound of the poem makes it so much easier to keep Sam’s attention.  Bauer also introduces animals into the story so it’s a no-brainer for an unimaginative mom like me to put in the animal sounds that Sam just love.  He’d giggle every time I’d make the sounds.  Sometimes, I catch him reading the book alone, turning the pages and making the sounds himself.

I love you as the bird
loves a song to sing.

I love you as the waking bear
loves the smell of spring.

The wonderful illustration by Church makes it all the more special.  The 26 brightly illustrated pages helps my son’s attention not to waver.  It’s a very good collaboration.

I love you as the cat
loves a sunny sill.

And as the dancing snowflakes
love the winter’s chill.

Hubby would go, “How did the snowflakes, ever sounded like brrr”?  Well, I was referring to the cold weather!  LOL. Walang pakialaman. Walang basagan ng trip. Hubby would sometimes read to Sam this book too especially when I’m out for some me-time in the evenings (walking, actually) and it’s already time to go to bed.  I’m thinking of getting another book for them to both read but at this stage, I think consistency is best.  I can’t wait when it’s Sam’s turn to pick a book for us to read or when he starts reading to us!

How do I love you?
Let me tell you how.

I love you as the nest
loves the sturdy bough.

Another plus thing about this book is that it comprises of short lines only.  Sometimes, when reading Sam other books he’s already flipping the page while I haven’t gotten all the text out of my mouth.

I love you as the sea
loves the sandy shore.

And as the ancient world
loved the dinosaur.

“Sosaurs!” as Sam would put it.  Yup!  He likes dinosaurs!  But he has yet to be nerdy like Ross in Friends.  On a side note I found a book Sammy and the Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow.  This is the reason why Sam knows about dinosaurs.  I actually got this book because the story revolves around a boy named Sammy.  It’s a fun book and I got Sam dinosaur toys too.

I love you as the wind
loves its own sweet sound.

And as our friendly Earth
loves to spin around.

After I say “wind”, I do the whistling sound.  Sam likes the whistling.  He’d sometimes grab my mouth as I do this trying to catch the sound.  Yesterday, I saw him watching Noddy and he took the tin whistle, blew into it as Noddy beeped his car.  It’s a wonder how he can associate things now.

The book ends with:

I love you as the moon
loves each shining star.

I love all that you will be
and everything you are.

At the end of the day, that’s all we can do for our kids — to love them unconditionally come what may.

How Do I Love You? is an interesting book for really young tots — easy to understand at this stage.  And for my son who has yet to learn how to stay still and be patient, the length of this book is just right.  And I”m happy to report that this book hasn’t suffered any damages yet!

And now as Sam would put it as I close the book, he would go, “The end! The end!”