![I_Love_You_Open[1]](http://cbr.bgwdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/I_Love_You_Open1.jpg)
My baby and I cleaned off his bookshelf this weekend. My baby is nearly 8, and his interest in the picture books that I spent hours upon hours reading to him and his big sister has waned in favor of a growing number of graphic novels and chapter books. He needed more room on his shelf. My heart broke a little (read: a lot) when he handed me You Are My I Love You and said that it was time to pack it away. It’s lovingly saved for future grandbabies, but I can’t believe our picture book time has passed.
I was given this book as a shower gift before the birth of my first child and I have yet to get through it without having tears spring to my eyes. I buy it for baby showers and first birthdays every year.
I’ve read it hundreds of times, most often with a warm, sweet-smelling baby snuggled with me in our rocking chair. In the days where hours spent like that were considered work. There was work to be done, bonding with a little sack of sweetness and teaching language. Now the work is harder…schedules to be followed, fractions to be divided, endless squabbles to be refereed, life lessons to be presented with care and sensitivity and just the right words. We used to just have the same easy words, over and over and over.
“I am your parent; you are my child.
I am your quiet place; you are my wild.”
And the line that got me every.single.time:
“I am your way home; you are my new path”
It’s right what they say…the days are slow but the years are fast. Most days as a parent still feel crazily long, with all the responsibilities and struggles and quiet moments where your heart swells. I’m begging for a glass of wine and my bed at the end of most of the days. And yet, my picture book years went by in the blink of an eye. I can’t believe that it worked…all the hours spent in the rocking chair led to two smart kids who love books and need more room on their shelves. So it’s time to move on.
I’m not tearing up…nope, not me!
I still have one picture book kid left. I’m going to hold onto that, even if she refuses to try to use the potty.
this was so beautiful. Totally not tearing up at work :)
How many board and picture books is it to reasonable to keep? My kids are 6 and 9 and I am struggling to part with…any. I have huge boxes of books that they’re done with and any suggestion to part with them makes me burst into tears.
I’m pretty sure this is how hoarding begins :P
My husband had me on a weight limit…said I had to be able to lift the storage bin. So I feel that a stack of several of the under-the-bed size storage bins are a good compromise :)
As if I needed another picture book… This sounds wonderful. We are still at the picture book stage so I have an excuse to shop, at least.
Yup: This one is a k i l l e r. Makes me weep every time. The youngest of the niblings I’m staying with is turning 10 in a few weeks, so she’s on to Harry Potter, and Lemony Snicket and the like, but I’m lucky enough to have younger nephews to keep me getting my picture book fix.
I just found this review and wish I had seen it a year ago to give my sister for my niece. She’s still little – maybe I can get away with it for a birthday.
“I am your quiet place, you are my wild”? Yeah. Totally in tears at my desk.
And also? My kid is twelve and a half. I not only still have way more of her baby books than I should, but they are still on shelves throughout the house. And packed in boxes. And stacked under end tables. And tucked underneath beds.
I may have a problem.
There are 4 people in this house and 3 copies of The Giving Tree. No one wants to part with their sentimental copy. I salute your problem! :)