The perfect book for so many little moments

I really, really love bringing magic to our lives by finding the perfect book to read at the perfect time. 

I love to decorate for holidays by displaying favorite picture books on a shelf. The Best Valentine Ever in February, Pie is for Sharing at the start of July. 

I love to read Bernice Gets Carried Away on each family member's birthday and a different Christmas book every day in December. 

We love to read about our destination before we travel (Redwoods on our Redwoods trip!) or a dish before we cook (Stone Soup before making any kind of soup), about school on the last day of summer break (This is My Home, This is my School) or a sick book when we're all curled up with a cold (Bear Feels Sick). 

I use picture books to celebrate with my children and I use books to calm their nerves, to teach them and to prepare them, to excite them and to awaken their imaginations. 

Sometimes I remember, halfway through a bath, the sound of my mom reading Just Me in the Tub. Sometimes I take my final sip of water for the night and hear my mom's voice reading It's Bedtime. Every single time my stomach hurts I remember her reading Baby Brown Bear's Big Belly Ache and any time I see a lizard it's The Poky Little Puppy. I can't see a llama without hearing my dad's laugh as he reads me Is Your Mama a Llama. 

I started reading to Baby A right away, right after we brought him home to that little apartment. Loaves and Fishes was the first book we ever read aloud together. I just wanted to share my love of books. But now I know I've given them so much more than that. 

I've given them their mama even after I'm gone. Even when my time on Earth is up they'll still hear me once in a while. They'll me reading The Snatchabook when they curl up in their beds for a chapter or two, If You Give a Moose a Muffin while they bite into a blueberry muffin, The Quiltmaker's Gift when they make their beds. 

They'll never walk through this world without the love of a parent to comfort them, all because I took the time to pick out the perfect book for so many little moments.