“This is a picture of me sleeping peacefully,” says the toddler upon seeing a photo of herself asleep. I love looking at her when she’s sleeping because she looks so radically different without any emotion on her face.

I love this shot of her, taken at my parents house last week, asleep amongst the comfy pillows next to a stack of books.

Our whole family loves reading before bed. (Truthfully, the parents enjoy it a little bit more than is good for us, as we tend to stay up way too late reading just about every night.)

By far the easiest way to put the toddler to bed is to read her out.

Here are some of the wonderful books we’ve been reading before bed:

• The Fire Cat
• Frog and Toad Series
• Little Bear Series
• Owl Moon
• Ox-Cart Man
• Piggins Series
• Winnie the Pooh and Some Bees Series

I’ve added these books, plus several others, to a new section in our left-hand sidebar on the right titled, “favorite family reads,” and will try to update this regularly as we discover new books to share with you. We so enjoy them all and highly recommend you pop over to your local library to pick them up.

Inspired by the miriad of Life Lists floating around the web, I feel compelled to create a list of books to read before I turn 40 (in just over nine years).

On this list are books that I’ve always wanted to read, books that I feel I need to read, books that sound like a lot of fun, books that are thought provoking, books that I own but haven’t cracked open, books that I read once upon a time but can’t remember, and books I started or have read excerpts from, but never finished.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

1. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
2. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
3. On the Origins of Species by Charles Darwin
4. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (currently reading)
5. Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth
6. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
7. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
8. Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail
9. Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs ans Steel
10. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
11. Sharon Shinn’s The Shape-Changer’s Wife
12. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (yet to be written, due to be published in 2012)

Clearly I have many more books to add to this list and so I need your help! Do you have any suggestions? What must-read books would you recommend?

Most importantly, please don’t suggest any heartbreaking books! Real life (in the news! on the radio!) is depressing enough, I don’t need to cry while reading. (Unless it’s happy romantic tears. I am completely okay with those!)

I’m excited to see what you suggest.

We’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, trying to plan ahead with presents and decorations to limit the last minute scrambling that inevitably happens each December. This year instead of our typical Week of Design, we’re talking about holiday gifts, presenting items we love and recommend, as well as items from our wishlists for fun splurge items.

We love children’s books and especially appreciate board books for little ones. The thick pages allow toddlers to turn the pages themselves (how empowering!) and are strong enough to stand up to lots of daily use (kids love repetition!) and drool. Here are some of our most treasured board books, which we’re read over and over and over again. (Yes, we have them all memorized!) Enjoy.

– Baby Love: A Board Book Gift Set/All Fall Down; Clap Hands; Say Goodnight; Tickle, Tickle
– Blue Hat, Green Hat
– Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
– The Carrot Seed
– Chicka Chicka ABC
– Forest Bright, Forest Night
– Global Babies
– Good Dog, Carl
– Good Night, Gorilla
– Goodnight Moon
– Gossie and Friends
– Hands Can
– Harry the Dirty Dog
– I’m as Quick as a Cricket
– Jamberry
– Mama, Do You Love Me?
– Mommy & Daddy Hugs & Kisses
– The Owl and the Pussycat (stunning illustrations by Jan Brett!)
– Planting a Rainbow
– Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
– The Very Hungry Caterpillar
– Won’t You Be My Kissaroo?

We love children’s books and the plethora of phenomenal ones with a fall theme!

Here are some library finds we’ve been enjoying lately:

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert:

Miss Leyba relates to the idea of picking up plants from the garden center, then planting, caring for and growing to love them. She’s memorized this one already.

And Then Comes Halloween by Tom Brenner, illustrated by Holly Meade:

A showcase of fun fall activities, such as carving pumpkins, raking leaves, decorate yards, and making costumes, gearing up for Halloween.

Hello, Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher, illustrated by Kate Kiesler:

Beautiful imagery and verse, nevertheless I’d personally recommend this book for older children; our toddler has little patience for it unless she’s really in a reading mood. We’ll try again next year!

In November by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Jill Kastner:

Beautiful pictures, sound science, and the girls especially enjoy it. David thinks it’s a boring story, but don’t tell Miss Leyba!

Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel:

A story for all seasons! My favorite Frog and Toad book, it’s quirky, fun and a very, very sweet collection of stories about best friends!

Someone’s obsessed with Elsa Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear books!

So obsessed that she pretends to make birthday soup in the kitchen sink during her daily water play:

So obsessed that she’s been calling her baby doll Lucy after the doll in the book Little Bear’s Friend.

So obsessed that she knows the story word for word:

Video: Reading Little Bear Book from Carrie on Vimeo.

Oh, that ending! We’re all about keeping it real over here. “I hate this book!” is what happens when I ask her to read it three times in a row so I can get a movie of her storytelling. I don’t blame her for being pissed at me. I’d hate it too after reading it three times.

Although if last night is an any indication, I’ll be reading it five times to her before bed tonight.

But that didn’t stop me from just adding the books to Miss Leyba’s book wishlist. That way we’ll get to read them over and over again for years.

A second post in my Art Appreciation for Toddlers series.

Our dear friend Alice found and sent us these phenomenal books by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that teach the alphabet and numbers utilizing famous works of art from their collection:

Museum 123:

Museum ABC:

Both books do a great job of featuring prominent works from artists around the world and throughout the centuries, not just focusing on the last hundred years but showing ancient works as well from a variety of countries and cultures.

Chronicle Books publishes several delightful art history board books that introduce popular artists and can serve to inspire children’s art projects and story time. I’d also like to think that now’s a great time to start developing my daughter’s appreciation for art and art history as she brings a sense of wonder to every activity.

The authors (Susan Goldman Rubin, Julie Merberg, and Suzanne Bober) do a good job of choosing artwork that we can all relate to: pictures of people taking naps, going on trains, dancing, gardening, learning to walk, etc.

Our family loves these art themed board books: as a baby Miss Leyba looked at the pictures; now that she’s two, we read the books together and she makes up stories of her own about the pictures.

Here are some of our favorites pages from the series:

Matisse Dance with Joy featuring his paper collages


Andy Warhol’s Colors although Miss Leyba calls him (in all seriousness) “Andy Wormhole”

In the Garden with Van Gogh – love those yellows and blues together

A Picnic with Monet – mama’s favorite

Chronicle books publishes many others including:

– Magritte’s Imagination
– Counting with Wayne Thiebaud
– Dreaming with Rousseau
– Painting with Picasso
– On an Island with Gauguin
– Quiet Time with Cassatt
– Sharing with Renoir
– Sunday with Seurat

They also have a Mini Masters Boxed Set that includes four of the books (Dancing with Degas, A Picnic with Monet, A Magical Day with Matisse, and In the Garden with Van Gogh) for around $11 — if we didn’t already own one book in the set, I would SO jump on that deal!

What better (and easier!) way to teach kids about art then to expose it to them when they’re young?! Their brains are like sponges; they absorb and retain EVERYTHING! (Makes me so jealous! My mind is a sieve these days.)

Next up: going to an actual museum to see works by these artists! Wouldn’t that be a great NEW activity to do on a Friday?! I need to put it on the calendar. There’s a Post-Impressionist Masterpieces exhibit coming (only) to San Francisco. It would be the perfect introduction. I’m excited already.