Book Report

All the books are sinking in. Jackson has been making connections between stories we've read and the real world.

• The other night I served a new dish made of potatoes, carrots and turnips. Jackson asked what it was (OK, he grunted something that I usually take to mean a request for identification) and when I mentioned the turnips he immediately said, "Sheep?!" We've read The Animals of Farmer Jones (written by Leah Gale, illustrated by Richard Scarry) about a million times around here, and Farmer Jones gives turnips to the sheep for dinner.
• I started reading him Swimmy (written and illustrated by Leo Lionni), in which the main character is described as being "as black as a mussel shell" (in contrast to his red fish-school brethren), and at the mention of mussel, Jackson went over to our nature shelf and pointed at the mussel shell.
• When we were at the railroad museum the other day, I pointed out the box car and the tank car, and Jackson immediately said, "Book?" I know that's vague, but I'd bet anything that he was referring to Freight Train (written and illustrated by Donald Crews), which prominently features a box car and a tank car.

And even though this isn't a vocabulary thing, Jackson hugs characters in books, which has got to mean something. For example, tonight we were reading Knuffle Bunny Free, and there's a long sad loss in the middle of the story where Knuffle Bunny is missing (again). When it was explained that Trixie was sad because Knuffle Bunny was gone (again), Jackson announced that the solution was "hugging!" and proceeded to hug the book, trying to make Trixie feel better. He hugs characters in books a lot, sometimes in solace, and sometimes just because he likes them. Anyway, it must have done the trick, because Trixie and company all lived happily ever after!