Poopy Diapers, Pooh and Texting

It seems that you, my few blog readers, are privy to some of my childhood flashbacks this week. Though I have not quite determined why my mind is glancing backwards, I am not going to fight it because these moments of reflection are oddly comforting. There is no regret, no living in the past, but rather a flood of fond feelings for a simpler time. A time when books had pictures and chocolate milk was a lunch time requisite.

Come to think of it, my sister is to blame for my flashbacks. All this talk about her baby makes me realize I am much closer to my past childhood than I am to the possibility of future motherhood. Phew! Cause let me tell you, as exciting as talking about poopy-diaper services is…

While skipping through my memories today, I stopped to read quotes from Winnie the Pooh. *Ha ha! See the pattern? From poopy-diapers to Pooh! Blaaaaah ha!* Now, admittedly, I did not actually read the book by A.A. Milne until I was older, but Pooh and his gaggle of animal friends were still a part of my childhood. I remember watching The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh cartoon every Saturday morning. Good stuff. I still remember the theme song. *Damn my affliction.*

One of the most interesting details that A.A. Milne created in the world of Pooh is the manner in which the characters’ spellings reflect the spelling mistakes made by young children. For example: the characters think that W-O-L spells ‘Owl.’ No matter how off the spelling is, phonetically the words make perfect sense; a word is consistently spelled based on the way it sounds. In relation to this notion, there is a quote from one of the books that caught my attention:

“Because my spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” [Pooh]

This logic makes perfect sense to me. Yet, how does a sentence look if all the words are spelled phonetically? Let’s experiment, shall we?

tha kow wnt ovur tha mun.
munkee c munkee du.
winee tha pu.
shee wurks hrd 4 hur munee.

Huh, a bit like text messaging isn’t it? Are we digressing back to a child-like way of spelling? Winnie the Pooh is making a come back, folks… and this time he comes with a cell phone.

Shelves Filled with Books

Jillian, Jillian, Jillian Jiggs,
It looks like your room has been slept in by pigs.
[From Jillian Jiggs, by Phoebe Gilman]

I was lost in the memories of elementary school for most of the afternoon today. Somewhere between a phone call and online research, I began thinking about the moments that highlighted my early years of education. One word: books.

From as early as I can remember, my home was stocked with shelves and shelves of children’s books. Almost every night, my mom would read aloud to me and my sister and my brother. My mom would delight us with tales about Timecat, Wayside School students, and BFGs. You know what BFGs are, of course. Big Friendly Giants.

On these shelves there were also books about The Berenstain Bears, Little Critter, and The Magic School Bus. There were books on our shelves for every skill level and reader mood. It was our personal Barnes and Noble.

Beyond our family book collection, I remember school Book Fairs and library time. I remember it all; more vividly than most other memories. All of these are good memories– or as Master Card would put it for the parents:

Raising 6 children: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$…$$$$$$$
Shelves filled with children’s books: $$$$$
Helping to foster each child’s lifelong love of reading: Priceless.

Now instead of dazzling you all with my own personal whit, I leave you with some classic lines from my favorite Shel Silverstein poem.

Bear in There [from A Light in the Attic]

There’s a polar bear in our frigidaire,
He likes it cause it’s cold in there.
With his seat in the meat,
And his face in the fish,
And his big hairy paws in the buttery dish.