Oak Brook, IL     Thursday, Feb. 11    So I’m looking out at about 20 or so bright hopeful faces and in my peripheral vision I see my parents, my daughter and my aunt and uncle and I’m being introduced by the Barnes and Noble CRM (Community Resource Manager) and…I’m off!  Reading to young children is like jumping off a cliff.   IT’S DANGEROUS.  There are  potty breaks, sniffles, interruptions, fidgets, and even pint-size hecklers occasionally.  Before going on, I did not say a prayer for good sales.  I said a prayer that I could connect with the children and draw them into the stories in our books.

So I dove off the cliff and it felt ELECTRIC.  We danced through Dear Baby, Let’s Dance!  We played “what’s that color, and “where’s the frog” as I read an advance copy of Dear Baby, It’s a Colorful World.  When the children got a bit rowdy we played “FREEZE.”  Then I asked them to sit down so I could read a Valentine to them from their parents.  We played pretend as we wrapped blankets around us to get cozy and picked up a teddy bear or puppy to snuggle.  Precious moment: I heard one little boy say to the girl next to him, “I don’t get it.  Where are the blankets?”  The little girl looked at him in exasperation and said, “IT’S PRETEND.” 

When we were all snuggled in, I read Dear Baby, What I love about you!, a little board book Valentine.  One effervescent little girl kept smiling and laughing and saying “awwww.”   This is the kind of day that makes me think I have the best job in the world.

Wow, I turn my back for a few weeks and all of a sudden there are lots of comments on my blog.  Cool!  Mostly, I’ve been amusing myself for awhile.  It’s nice to see that others are enjoying it too.  For those of you who have asked about the RSS feed or a newsletter keep checking back here.  I will ask with Doug the web guru to see if something needs to be tweaked on the feed signup and I am starting to put together a newsletter with the first to go out by mid March.

It’s been a strange but wonderful few weeks!  First there was that quick look at Dear Baby, What I love about you! on Keeping up with the Kardashians.  So weird to see it on TV.  I have been getting some wonderful letters from parents who enjoy reading this book to their babies.  It’s so meaningful to me to connect with parents and teachers.  It’s inspiring.  Then there was my reading at the Sandy Springs Library as part of a new early literacy program spearheaded by the Atlanta Junior League.  Awesome group of ladies.  I had an adorable 4 year old heckler.  I’m not kidding.  She kept interrupting and answered EVERY question.  On the other hand she was very animated. 

I want to thank my friends and family in Chicago who have generously been spreading the word about my book signings this week.  It’s just…moving to see how excited people are for us.  Several months ago I wrote a blog about how “Some Dreams Look Good on a Shelf.”  I’ve been getting emails that the Barnes and Noble store where I have 2 of the signings this week has an endcap spotlighting my books and has been handing out flyers at the register.  Now that’s surreal. 

This process has also brought me back in touch with a few friends I have not seen or talked to in a long time.  I’m excited to catch up with them on where all our lives have taken us since we graduated ten years ago. 

Okay, so it’s not ten years ago.  It’s…It’s…It’s none of your business.  Let’s just say there was a lot of debate about Jimmy Carter, Michael Jackson had his lovely original face, and phones were GIGANTIC.