30 Days of Gratitude: Day 18

Today, I have spent the day in my coziest pants and faux-hubby’s sweatshirt, ignoring the clock while reading with my 5 year old daughter, nursing the (almost year old!) baby, checking in on Facebook and listening to my (9 & 11 year old) boys giggle uncontrollably in their room. FH (Faux-Hubby) has been hard at work cooking all day, practicing for Christmas dinner- you can see his updates if you’re on Instagram at dannytbhsk8boarding. 🙂 His apple blackberry pie is looking GOOD, I’ll tell you that! I’m getting my gratitude post in early today so that when dinner is ready, I can eat and spend the rest of the night with family, not at the computer.

I’ve found, so far in my 30 Days of Gratitude that I feel the best when I just write, instead of trying to make a list- I’ve already listed five things in the first sentence I’m grateful for today- who wants to be limited by that?

Here’s what Annika and I have been reading- I’ve been loving using A Mighty Girl as a resource to find positive books for her, as well as PBS’ list of Empowering Books for Girls, especially after reading this post on How to Talk to Little Girls that says,

Try this the next time you meet a little girl. She may be surprised and unsure at first, because few ask her about her mind, but be patient and stick with it. Ask her what she’s reading. What does she like and dislike, and why? There are no wrong answers. You’re just generating an intelligent conversation that respects her brain. For older girls, ask her about current events issues: pollution, wars, school budgets slashed. What bothers her out there in the world? How would she fix it if she had a magic wand? You may get some intriguing answers. Tell her about your ideas and accomplishments and your favorite books. Model for her what a thinking woman says and does.

These were her choices:

While we’re at it, I asked my boys, too. I mean, I want to build smart, critically thinking boys, too, right? They had these recommendations, which they gave together- all of them ended up being groups of 3+ books- they feel like just one book doesn’t give them enough. What can I say? I’m happy to have raised readers. 🙂 We don’t have cable and keen the screen time to a maximum of 1-2 hours a day and encourage at least a half an hour of reading time, but they easily drift into more- especially on rainy days like these.

Here are the boys’ recommendations:

Dinner is ready- I’m going to go sit down and eat with my family, followed by watching a movie of their choice- we decide by democratic vote! Tonight, Megamind got the vote, followed by Labyrinth as a close second. It’s one of our favorites! (You remind me of the babe…)

I’m grateful for the clouds outside that facilitated the family incubation day of rest, relaxation & renewal. And apparently alliteration.