little house

Around January this year Mike thought it would be fun to start reading the Little House on the Prairie series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder to Eloise.  I guess he thought that she would like them because she loves books, loves stories, and loves animals and farms.

 I think every single morning, for the last 2 years or so, she comes in our room while Mike is getting ready for work and asks if he "wants to play farm".  I think every single morning he has said "sure!".  They have a whole little scenario in which he plays the farmer and she is some visiting guest (her characters vary)  that is coming to help with the animals on the farm and do chores.  It is hilarious.  Usually, I am told that I am the farmer's wife and I just sit inside and drink tea all day.  Fine by me.

Well, Mike was right about the books.  She has loved every minute of them.  I think what she especially loved was the fact that is was something special for her and her dad to do.  They made a special trip to the library each time to get the next book and talked about what they thought might happen in the coming chapters.  He has read just about every word in all 8 books of the series, with only a couple chapters to go.  Sure, we have had a few guest readers at bedtime every now and then---Aunt Vicki, Grandpa, even I was allowed to read a couple, but for the most part, all was read by 'Pa'.

We did worry a little that the material would be too mature for her at times.  I mean these are stories about a real family trying to settle land of their own and facing everything from droughts to long winters, sickness, and sadness.  They had to make do with the very little that they had.  I remember one time Mike came down after putting her to bed and reading to her and he looked sick with worry.  I asked him what was wrong and he said the Ingalls had lost their bulldog, Jack, and hadn't been able to find him for two days.  He was so worried that something was going to happen to him, he put Eloise to bed and snuck the book out of her room so he could read ahead to make sure Jack didn't die.  I think he was prepared to rewrite history if needed.  We know how Eloise feels about dogs.

Because I wasn't the one reading to her it made for some interesting interactions where I had no idea what she was talking about at first.  Like the time she asked if I knew where we could get a calf's stomach so we could make some cheese.  Or the time she asked if we had any thimbles so she could write her name with her finger in the frost on the window.  Or the time I was supposed to be  "blind Mary" and  Laura was bringing me some books written in "pail" that I could read with my fingers.

It seems as though the timing of finishing up the series this week is working out perfectly.  You see, this week is Halloween and I'm sure you can guess what Eloise has planned for us.  Our Halloween 2010 has been decided, by Eloise, for about 6 months now.  She will be Laura, of course.  Mike will be Pa and I will be Ma and she even has Harriet in the act as Baby Carrie.  A friend of mine asked her who would dress up as older sister, Mary.  Anticipating this potential kink in the plan, and not wanting to be inauthentic, she answered swiftly and confidently, "She's at blind college."

half-pint