The Coolest Thing about Tennessee

This weekend we visited our friends Sarah and Sean and their son Olly. Olly has lots of toys. Wonderful, colorful, musical, educational toys. Meredith enjoyed them very much. I'm pretty sure that in this picture, Mer is thinking "Mom! Whya been holdin' out on me?" Yes folks, the secret is out. Meredith is now fully aware that the measuring cups and the empty hair gel container full of popcorn kernels are NOT toys.


Instead of toys, we pretty much just have books. And I swear, it's not cause I'm trying to be overly cerebral, it's just that books are what I love. Like today, for instance. Our second free book from Dolly Parton arrived. For those of you who may only know the most obvious things about Dolly, you should also know that she is an incredibly cool and wise lady and she gives free books to all the children of Tennessee. Last month, the joy began with "The Little Engine that Could." When I opened the mailbox and realized that our first book had arrived, I had that rush of joy that you get when you're a little kid and you get to the toy at the bottom of the cereal box. Or when the big box of Christmas presents arrives from your aunt and uncle who live in Germany. Or when you realize that today is some minor holiday and you had forgotten all about it, and the teacher is passing out cupcakes. You know what I'm talking about? Pure joy. And the book wasn't even for me. At all. In the least. I'm already living vicariously through my daughter. So free books from Dolly...that's the best thing about living in Tennesee.

Anyway, now our second book has arrived, and the fun continues. It's entitled "No Biting!" and has lots of little life lessons for toddlers. Below, Meredith demonstrates her ability to follow directions.



Soon after this, Meredith actually read (perused) the book. Then she decided that some of the information therein might be useful for Maggie, so she scheduled a short tutorial. I'm sure that Maggie will change her behavior immediately. Meredith was very stern.