Give Away today!!!

Two years ago today I started this little blog. It has been so much fun, a challenge, and a motivation for me and I have loved sharing it with all of you. I hope we can keep it up for a long, long time. Two years ago, this was my very first post:

“Goodnight noises everywhere.” (from Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, Illustrated by Clement Hurd)

I have come to love putting my son to bed each night. Before Benjamin came along, we would go about the noise and rush of our lives until we felt exhausted enough to fall into bed and sleep. There was no wind down; the day slammed right into the night. Now, we have a ritual of turning down the lights, beginning to speak more softly, reading a calm story, and rocking, rocking, rocking. We are saying, “The day is coming to a close. Now it is time to rest and dream.”

There’s something very comforting and reassuring about putting to bed the noise and the concern, exchanging the rapid beat of the day for the peaceful, slowing pulse of the night. What if we, as adults, could remember how to say goodnight and let our eyelids fall heavily, like final curtains on the drama of the day? As I read, “Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon” to Benjamin, he eases into dreamland without a care in the world. And a kind of bedtime magic happens in which the baby is teaching me. Teaching me how to slow down, how to be quiet and still, how to say Goodnight.

Goodnight budget. Goodnight mess. Goodnight weight gain and spit-up stained dress. Goodnight family drama. Goodnight worried mama. Goodnight to-do list and all that is unfinished. Goodnight squeaky chair. And goodnight thinning hair. Goodnight noises everywhere.

Now my son is two years old and we still read Goodnight Moon a lot, but now he says the words along with us. He is such a big boy now and with his hair cut short he looks less and less like the baby I rocked to sleep before I published that first post. It’s amazing what a difference two years can make. I wanted so much to treasure my son’s babyhood because I knew it would go quickly, but I had no idea how quickly. And I had no idea how sweet and fun he would be at this stage, how much material he would give me for writing! Just yesterday, I dozed off on the couch and woke to his hands on my cheeks. “I love you more. I love you most,” he said.  Wonderful. I hope you don’t mind if I write about him for years to come.

Early on in the life of this blog, I traveled to Illinois for Christmas with my husband’s family and was without reliable internet access out there on their farm. So I asked my good friend Shanna to post quotes on the blog for me while I was away. She did such a great job that I asked her to become a regular contributor and I think it’s the best thing to happen to the blog yet. Last year Shanna moved to Boston and we all gained a whole new perspective in this little blog world of ours.

Well, to celebrate two years, I want to do a little give away today. I will give away a children’s book, of course, but it will be a surprise to you. Isn’t that fun?! So if you want to enter the drawing for a surprise children’s book do one or all of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling us either your favorite children’s book OR your favorite quote from a children’s book.

2. Subscribe to the blog and leave another comment on this post telling us that you subscribed (this will earn you a second entry).

3. Share this post on facebook and leave another comment here telling us that you shared it (this will earn you yet another entry).

4. Like The Children’s Book Quote of the Day page on facebook and leave another comment here telling us that you like us (this is your fourth chance at an entry).

Good luck and happy reading to all! I will let this go through the weekend and draw a winner on Monday.