Like all parents, I want my children to feel loved and
special in order to set them up for a healthy sense of self esteem in the
future. "On The Night You Were Born," by Nancy Tillman has exactly
what I want to say to Audrey and Antonino to make them feel like VIPs. The
author just has a way with words that's simply magical. I mean just read a few
lines from the book below:
"So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain that they
whispered the sound of your wonderful name."
and
".. notice the bears asleep at the zoo. (It's because
they've been dancing all night for you!)"
Beautiful, right? I also love how some parts of the book
encourage interaction by instructing your child to say his/her
name and wiggle his/her toes.
The book's design which was made by the author and Kathleen
Breitenfield is just stunning. The images fit perfectly with the rhymes and
even have short inspirational quotes incorporated into some of them.
Audrey and Antonino's birth was not ideal. They were born 3
weeks early and had to stay in the NICU before they were able to come home.
Their NICU stay made Joey and me feel isolated and lonely because our
experiences were different compared to our family and friends who gave birth to
full term babies. I remember feeling like my twins were cheated because they
had to play catch up from day one. Of course, thanks to the care of our beloved
team of NICU nurses and doctors, the twins made it and were finally able to go
home after 3 weeks. I just wish I had this book then because it would have
really helped comfort me and lift my spirits. The message that you are a one of
a kind miracle just spoke to me because the fact that Audrey and Antonino are
here with us is truly a miracle.
This book has been part of our nighttime reading rotation
since Audrey and Antonino turned a year old. It's the perfect way to fill them
with good thoughts before they go to bed. I'm sure that right now the message
may seem vague to them and they may even be wondering why our voices would
occasionally crack - mostly mine, this book just makes me so emotional! But I
hope that as they grow older, it will help them understand how special they are
and how we cannot find anybody like them.
We bought our book from Amazon but I recently saw a few
copies on the shelves of Fully Booked. I hope you guys will like reading it to
your kids as much as we do.
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