Horse Books Rule

If I could go out right now and buy a handful (or two) of easy reader, or easier to read books that have horses as the main subject, I would. Emma would be reading by the end of the week.

Not that we are really in a huge rush or feel that she HAS to be able to ready by a certain age/time. I like reading to her. I have been reading to her since before she was born. And I plan to read to her until she won't let me anymore.

About the only time I wish she would hurry up and learn to read is when she asks me (for the 10th time in 20 minutes) what her computer says. Without trying to read it first.

I really need to set our computers up closer together.

We made a stop at our new local book store on Friday because it had been a very long time since anyone had gotten a new book. We use to go to Borders all the time. We were so sad when Borders closed, but BAM opened up not to long after, so we were happy that we had a book store again.

I miss Borders. At Borders, there were no tears when Emma was refused a toy (because they didn't have very many). At BAM, it seems the kids section has almost as many toys as they do books. This was our second or third trip to BAM, despite the fact that Emma asks all the time if we can go. So she can get a Barbie. At a book store. It's a little sad really.

So on this trip I mentioned that we were going for one book each, no toys, nothing else. Just books. From the bookstore.

After browsing through almost all the books in the kids section, we managed to find two great books about a pony named Pal.

Emma got two books because, well, all the books and magazines I wanted were $15 and up, so I decided to just get her a second book, saving us at least $11. Jared got a mountain bike magazine. 

Anyway, after picking out her two books, we were off to find Da when Emma spied a stuffed unicorn. I had a feeling we might be in a bit of trouble when she turned to me with a sad puppy dog face and said, "I really wish I could get the unicorn instead of the books."

I gently reminded her we had come in for books, nothing more. She seemed to be a bit sad, but o.k with the decision. As we wandered looking for Da, she asked again if she could get the unicorn. When I told her, again, that we were just getting books she started to cry. "But I really want the unicorn!" I hugged her and told her I understood that she wanted the unicorn, but that we had come for books. She settled down a bit and, once again, seemed like she would be ok. 

When she asked for a third time, and started crying again, I may not have handled it as well as I could have. "Emma, if you want, I can put these books back and you can get nothing."

Which of course made her cry harder and made me feel like an a$$. So, I snuggled her a bit more, tried again to explain to her that I understood that she wanted the unicorn, but that is not what we were spending our money on today. Today was for books. 

All this time I am thinking in the back of my head, "She must be tired. She usually only acts like this when she is tired."

Anyway, to try to shorten this story up- Once we found Jared, he asked Emma if she would like to show him the unicorn. She said yes and off they went so I could look real quick at the magazines (why do all the magazines I like cost as much as a book?). I met them as I was headed to the register. Standing in line, I saw those peanut butter cups shaped like eggs. I love the specialty peanut butter cups. I looked at Jared and pointed at the peanut butter cup. He shrugged a "Sure, why not" at me.

 But then I stopped. What an awesome display of a double standard that would have been. I can have something other than a book, but Emma can't? Didn't I just finish telling her that all we were getting was books? 

So, we paid for our two books and one magazine (which counts as book in my eyes), went home, and took a family nap. 

We didn't end up reading the books Friday night, but we did read them last night. Or, I should say, Emma read one of them and I read the other.

The book ended up being longer then we expected, so I helped with a page or two, but she really did a great job. The longer she read, the less she paused to look at me to see if she had gotten the word correct. Towards the end, she didn't even need me to reread the page (which she sometimes has me do if she was so focused on the words that she didn't grasp the meaning). 

Looks like letting her read a few board books may have helped out after all!