my ladies.

My ladies what are amazing and what inspire me and what I love and what live toofuckingfaraway. 

1.Celia:

C has opened a vintage clothes shop, not just any vintage clothes shop, a beautiful vintage clothes shop. In fact (if I may make a confession) I don't actually like vintage clothes (I know, bad blogger) They smell funny and are usually made of fabric that will catch fire faster than you can say "naked flame". BUT, I kind of want C's whole, beautiful, colour coordinated shop, especially this and this and this, lady has beautiful taste, knows her shit and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't let me wear something that would cause third degree burns. 

2. L------  (aka ESB) 

ESB finally went public what some of us have known for ages, she's a real person (srsly), her name is L------ and she makes films. I honestly don't know if I'm prouder of her for making a film (a real, actual film) or for coming out. All Ages premièred at the Vancouver Film Festival on Friday and it's showing again on Thursday at 1.30pm. If you're lucky enough to be in the area you should definitely go and see it. I would, in a heartbeat. I'd also probably cry, which she wouldn't like at all. 

3. Jamie

So I have this daydream. N and I aren't married yet. So we take our babies, we buy some stripy dresses,  killer heels and a suit that fits and we hop on a plane to Vegas. We get married by Johnny Cash. Celia and esb are the witnesses, Amanda and Meg hold the babies and Jamie takes the photos. I know it's not cool to fantasise about repeating your wedding but this daydream is the best, so sue me. Anyway, there's a point to this. While my Vegas wedding isn't going to happen (unless..... no), Jamie is teaming up with her lady Michelle to shoot a wedding. FOR FREE. Seriously, two amazing photographers, for free. So if you're getting married sometime between now and mid-2012 have a look here and do your best to get yourself some of this awesome. Extra points for weddings that involve twins, stripes, Johnny Cash and more bloggers than you can shake a stick at. 

Decorating discord

There's been a lot of trying top make our house pretty recently, with not a lot of success.  First we were trying to make it pretty to sell it (pretty, but no danger of being described as interesting) and now we're trying to make it pretty so that we will enjoy being trapped  living here. 

The problem is we're slobs. We also threw out almost everything when we thought we would be moving into a shoe box in London. Also we never really had many things we loved in the first place, just weird hand-me-downs and assorted crap that we seem to attract like magnets. We also have no money (hello giant roof bill) to buy things we do love. But mostly we're slobs.  Which means our house will never look like Zoe's. Which makes me sad. 

Of course I'm also hampered by N's allergy to (in no particular order and not exclusively) knick knacks, collections of knick knacks, collections of anything, Cath Kidston fabrics, chairs that look good but aren't "comfortable", typographic art work (he's dyslexic, they make his head hurt) and objects that suggest the 1970s. Or 60s. 

He's not keen on the 50s either. 

He does however let me keep the rabbit indoors and will cycle to asda for ginger beer when I NEED a Jamaican Mule.  So I think I'll keep him.

*photos of Zoe's home by Zoe and via her blog, Conversation Pieces and The Seventy Tree.  

* and you've seen her wedding to the super-sweet Neil, who doesn't have allergies to nice things, right?

Babies are people too....

"Starting a relationship with your children is just like starting a relationship with anyone else (except it's a shitload harder to get out of if you decide you want to bail)."

Remember when I told you about Hank and Lucy? One of my favouritest blogs by two of my favouritest people? Celia and Jamie asked me to write about something no one told me about motherhood so today I'm over there, talking about babies and what it's like getting to know them.  I would like it if you would maybe go and read. And maybe also read the rest of the Guest Mom series. Especially maybe Lisa's post. Thank you.  

Jamie + Celia + Hank + Lucy

Back in August my favourite girl Celia tweeted me "P, I'm 7 weeks pregnant! No one knows, don't tell anyone."

Four days later my other favourite girl Jamie tweeted me "P, I'm 7 weeks pregnant! No one knows, don't tell anyone."

It was pretty much the best week ever; friends! babies! synchronicity! secrets! friends having babies synchronicitally and telling me secrets! And then it sucked, because I knew they would both be so happy when they found out that they were probably expecting their bubbies the same week and it was so exciting and I wanted them to know now now now! But I'd promised, and so I kept quiet.

Then they finally told each other and it turned out that their bubs weren't just due the same week, they were due the SAME DAY. And then they started a blog and that's where the magic lives. It's called Hank and Lucy and I already love it. Almost as much as I'm going to love those bubbies when they arrive.

Cactus and Quail

My bestest blog girl Jamie has just launched her new custom stationary website, Cactus and Quail, and you need to be going there right now to admire the pretties, buy the notecards and covet the trinkets. Jamie is offering fully custom designed invitation suites, ready-made illustrations that can be used in a variety of ways and a flea-market where she is selling her small, limited edition creations.

I love.

* images from Cactus and Quail, via A Practical Wedding.

Things no one tells you about pregnancy, 5

This.

It's not quite a football, but it's certainly....um....swollen. More of a croissant perhaps.

*thanks to Marie-Ève for sending me to the above post. Do you read Marie-Ève? You should. She's wise and witty and she writes proper posts (particularly about pregnancy and motherhood) that you know, have more than one sentence and provoke thoughts and teach you stuff. As opposed to just sharing fun facts about nipple texture and engorged vaginas. She's also expecting a little girl in just a few weeks, a little girl to join her little boy LP (which doesn't stand for Little Person by the way) and has been, along with Cate, my pregnancy guru and hand holder.

** yes, I'm still here and I'm still pregnant. And still really quite pissed off about that. Last week I thought I might be having babies but it turned out I was having a kidney infection instead.

IMAGE BY LOUVECIENNES

Amanda, on books for the Slightly Bigger

Today we have the last of Amanda's posts on books for littles. Of course, the littles have grown since Monday, they're not so little any more....

For the Slightly Bigger

For sneaking flashlights ‘neath warm sheets.

The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, Dino Buzzati/Frances Lobb (translator)

KING LEANDER. He is the King of the Bears, the son of a King who in turn had a King as a father. He is therefore a bear of most ancient lineage. He is tall, strong, valiant, virtuous, and intelligent too, though not as intelligent as all that. We hope you will like him.

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster/Jules Feiffer

Attached to one side was a bright-blue envelope which said simply: “FOR MILO, WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME.”

Half Magic, Edward Eager/N.M. Bodeker

A book about four sensible children who enjoy both libraries and the books of one E. Nesbit. Also covers such subjects as borrowing money from another’s pocketbook and accidental arson.

Boy, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

Dead mice in candy jars and goat poo in pipes.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

A boy who talks to animals and magic of every other sort.

Matilda, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

Our heroine reads many great books, outwits several cruel adults, and composes at least one limerick. Also, a small and charming cottage.

The Witches, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

For children who hope to survive into adulthood, the most important book of them all.

The Magician’s Elephant, Kate DiCamillo/Yoko Tanaka

Leo Matienne had the soul of a poet, and because of this, he liked very much to consider questions that had no answers.

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, Kate DiCamillo/Timothy Basil Ering

He drank the soup in big, noisy gulps. And when he stepped out of the saucer, his paws were damp and his whiskers were dripping and his stomach was full.

Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh

A book with a surfeit of tomato sandwiches.

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away … She didn’t like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes.

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

It was a dark and stormy night.

The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry

Their father, an impatient and irascible man, went to work at a bank each day, carrying a briefcase and an umbrella even if it was not raining. Their mother, who was indolent and ill-tempered, did not go to work. Wearing a pearl necklace, she grudgingly prepared the meals. Once she read a book but found it distasteful because it contained adjectives.

His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman

All of the best things of any worlds exist in these three books.

The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin

The Halloween moon was full. Except for her receding chin Turtle Wexler looked every inch the witch, her dark unbraided hair streaming wild in the wind from under her peaked hat, a putty wart pasted on her small beaked nose.

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket/Brett Helquist

In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters … I am sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes.

The Wonderful O, James Thurber/Marc Simont

Pirates ban the letter O. Hrrible, wnderful things ensue.

The 13 Clocks, James Thurber/Marc Simont

His hands were as cold as his smile and almost as cold as his heart. He wore gloves when he was asleep, and he wore gloves when he was awake, which made it difficult for him to pick up pins or coins or the kernals of nuts, or to tear the wings from nightingales.

* images one by Littlebirds
* image two by Jaime M
* image three by Buttonhearts

Amanda, on books for Littles

Before we continue with Amanda's recommendations I would like to share the suggestions I sent her for what age group each post covers, just so you know and don't get too antsy pantsy if your favourite isn't mentioned yet!

1) books for when littles are too little to know what you're reading to them but they like it anyway

2) books for littles who understand the words now and will use the books to start to learn to read once they're big enough for that sort of thing

3) books for childrens who have just learnt to read and will hide under the bed for days on end reading the books if they are not dragged out by their ears for dinner.

And over to Amanda...

For Littles

For aloud and together, with clean ears and toes.

Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmens

She was not afraid of mice—she loved winter, snow, and ice. To the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said “Pooh-pooh.”

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Doreen Cronin/Betsy Lewin

An important first book about animal rights and the dangers/merits of typewriters.

Esio Trot, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

A book about using deception and pet exploitation to turn unrequited love on its head.

James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

A small boy guilty of murder flees the United Kingdom with several large insects, a surfeit of seagulls, and approximately 24 pairs of boots.

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri d’Aulaire, Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

Zeus and Hera, mortals, seas.

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, Kate DiCamillo/Chris Van Dusen

One of many marvelous tales of a porcine wonder and her fondness for warm toast with a great deal of butter. Read all of these. Aloud. With great vigor.

The Giggler Treatment, Roddy Doyle/Brian Ajhar

A book primarily about poo, this volume also contains important information about biscuits and the Ways of Dogs.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, Julie Edwards

This book, like so many children’s books, begins in a zoo. Whether it will end in one I cannot say.

Teatro Olivia, Ian Falconer

Not a book at all, but a children’s theatre with sets and programs and at least one prima donna. Particularly adept directors and their parents may also enjoy Olivia. Then again, they may not.

The Happy Lion, by Louise Fatio

A French lion out for a stroll wonders where everyone’s manners have gone.

My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett

Lessons on the art of provisioning abound.

George and Martha: The Complete Stories About Two Great Friends, James Marshall

Martha was very fond of making pea soup. Sometimes she made it all day. Pots and pots of pea soup.

Now We Are Six, A.A. Milne

We went to all the places which a beetle might be near,
And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear

Amos and Boris, William Steig

A book about the importance of networking in unexpected places.

The Big Orange Splot, Daniel Pinkwater

A man infuriates his neighborhood association and encourages others to do the same.

The Stars, H.A. Rey

For those who watch the sky.

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak

A book about mischief, wolves, and supper.

The Sneetches and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss

This book provides many with the rare but thrilling opportunity to holler “Oliver Boliver Butt.”

Ounce Dice Trice, Alastair Reid/Ben Shahn

Lists, including words to be said when grumpy, names for insects, and rude names for nitwits.

Squids Will Be Squids, Jon Scieszka/Lane Smith

A book about squids and their natures as well as notes on fable-writing, the dangers of.

Many Moons, James Thurber/Marc Simont

Parents are reminded to avoid grand, somewhat idiotic promises and we are all reminded of the uselessness of mathematicians and the dangers of raspberry tarts.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Chris Van Allsburg

It is important that you buy this book immediately. That is all.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst

There were limas for dinner and I hate limas. There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing.

Sector 7, David Wiesner

In which we become aware of the kidnapping tendencies and secret lair of cloud formations. Their trickery includes teaching small boys to levitate.

Flotsom, David Wiesner

Photos, fish.

Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White/Garth Williams

The best book I know.

Piggie and Elephant books, Mo Willems

These books about the marvels of interspecies friendship include at least one helpful discussion on how to dress appropriately for a party.

* first photo by Cassia Beck
* second photo by Thomas Krauss
* third photo by Little Love Blue
* fourth photo by Frederick Desmots

Amanda, on books for tiniest littles

Other parents-to-be get excited about buying tiny clothes or wooden toys or colourful nursery decorations for their little people and those things have tickled me intermittently, but books have been tickling us constantly since the first moment we sat down together on the floor of a children's book shop and started pulling things off every shelf.

Sitting there in a pile of books for children of every age we became completely overwhelmed. We put back every book and left the shop empty handed. As the door swung shut behind us I turned to N and said in a slightly broken voice "maybe we should ask Amanda what to buy?"

And so we did.

Amanda is a writer of poetry, a seer of wonder, an adventurer of adventures and a whisperer of children and here, in the first of a series of

guest posts, is what she has to say about books for little people.....

This is how it is for me: Of all the books, I am most fond of those written for children. It has been this way from the very beginning, and I have begun to suspect that it will be this way until the end as well. I spend a lot of time thinking about childhood and about witches and bears, and I believe that the stories must be told; we are set free so early by words and their sounds and meanings, by tales of mortals, voyages, wings feathered and waxed.

By no means exhaustive, what follows is a small collection of what I very humbly (if superlatively) consider to be the Best Books, and what I would recommend for Peonies in particular--for her sweet and clever and aesthetically discerning family. Beware that some solid contenders have been excluded; it is clear, for instance, that Peonies and her Boy and Rabbit will inundate their girls with the tales of Edward Bear, and I’m sure we’re all well aware that Eloise the City Child and Paddington from Darkest Peru cannot help but invite themselves into the lives of children who need them.

At the end of a day with small children, it has often been a long day even if it hasn’t. At the end of a day with small children, each of us needs stories to bring us home, send us off. If I were choosing books at the end of such a day, exhausted, and if children I love had been soaped and dried and jammied and if everyone had the wriggles and if there was a cool breeze and a warm duvet, these are the books I would choose. They are just-up-from-a-nap, bring-me-a-book reads; let’s-lie-in-our-fort-with-a-flashlight reads; goodnight, sleep tight reads. They are some of the best books I know.

So. Three small collections to be pulled off the shelves, with any luck by the sticky-fingered among us: for the very small, for littles, and for the slightly bigger too. I hope you will enjoy them.

For the Very Small

Dogs and apples, tigers, mush.

Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown/Clement Hurd

In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon.

The Big Red Barn, Margaret Wise Brown/Felicia Bond

By the big red barn in the great green field, there was a pink pig who was learning to squeal.

The Important Book, Margaret Wise Brown/Leonard Weisgard

The important thing about rain is that it is wet. It falls out of the sky, and it sounds like rain, and makes things shiny, and it does not taste like anything, and is the color of air. But the important thing about rain is that it is wet.

Two Little Trains, Margaret Wise Brown/Leo and Diane Dillon

Two little trains went down the track, Two little trains went West.

Puff, Puff, Puff and Chug, Chug, Chug, Two little trains to the West.

Little Cloud, Eric Carle

In which we learn that some clouds need more attention than other clouds.

Go, Dog. Go!, P.D. Eastman

In which very many dogs do very many things. Some of them go. Others do not.

The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats

He walked with his toes pointed out, like this:

A Family of Poems, Caroline Kennedy (editor)/Jon J. Muth

For beginning children on poetry before anyone can ruin it for them; Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams sing beside Dylan Thomas and Ogden Nash.

Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt

In which the reader regards a handsome rabbit with solemnity. Sometimes the rabbit deigns to be patted. Sometimes he does not.

A Hole is to Dig, Ruth Krauss/Maurice Sendak

Mashed potatoes are to give everybody enough A face is so you can make faces Dogs are to kiss people

It Looked Like Spilt Milk, Charles G. Shaw

Sometimes it looked like spilt milk. But it wasn’t spilt milk.

Sometimes it looked like a rabbit. But it wasn’t a rabbit.

Chicken Soup With Rice, Maurice Sendak

The reader is introduced to the seasonal joys of chicken soup with rice.

In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak

Milk in the batter! Milk in the batter! We bake cake! And nothing’s the matter!

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business, Esphyr Slobodkina

In which we learn one of life’s most important lessons: When up against monkeys, it is helpful to lose one’s temper almost immediately. Also, it is unwise to nap beneath monkey-infested trees.

A Child’s Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.

A Tree Is Nice, Janice May Udry/Marc Simont

A tree is nice because it has a trunk and limbs.

Piggies, Audrey Wood/Don Wood

Various piggies are portrayed. We sometimes wonder why these piggies are drawn as fingers and not as toes. Other times we do not.

* first image from Lola's Room

* second image by Rakuyn

* third image by Simple Tess