In Which We Go To The Doctor And Discover A Great Bear Book

Connor had some appointments today over at the hospital, so we spent a good bit of the day over there.  We got there about an hour early so that we could get a parking space.  There are a limited number of handicap spaces at the hospital, and as Connor gets heavier it becomes harder and harder to maneuver him out of the van if we can't put the ramp down.  Sometimes if I'm desperate I try parking waaaaaay in the back of the parking lot in the middle of a bunch of empty spaces so that I can put down the ramp, but invariably when I come back someone has parked next to me and I end up having to manhandle the wheelchair into the van by brute force.  So instead we just get there really, really early. 

Fun times.

Anyway, after the little guy's appointments we headed off to the bookstore for his reward book.  Normally I pick out two books and then give Connor a choice, but today I opened up a random book from the shelves entitled I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassan, read it through and immediately decided that Connor needed it because Jeremy was going to think it was perhaps the best children's book ever written.  Not only does it have an extremely deadpan and dark sense of humor, but it also models proper predator-prey relationships, which Jeremy has been known to add to books that he feels are unrealistic in that aspect (you really, really don't want to hear his version of Goldilocks And The Three Bears). 

Seriously, I have no idea how I didn't hear about this book when it came out.  Heck, NPR did a reading of it with Daniel Pinkwater playing the bear.  How did I miss it?   

So then I had to convince Connor that he wanted this book for his reward.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: Connor, do you want this book?
Connor: No.
Me: But it's a really really great book! 
Connor: No.
Me: Do you want me to read it to you now so you can see if you like it?  I think you'll like it.
Connor: No no NO.
Me: But it has a BEAR in it!
Connor: Yes want want want yes want more MORE WANT.

Yeah.  Connor likes bears. 

So anyway, after I convinced my child that he needed something I actually wanted for myself (aren't I a great mom?) we spent a little bit of time finding more books for me, this time adult books, ate lunch in the cafe and then headed home, where Jeremy was waiting.  He read Connor the book and agreed that it was, in fact, fantastic.  Connor enjoyed it too, though I'm pretty sure it was mostly because a) Daddy was reading it and b) it contained a bear. 

Any book with either a bear or a dinosaur in it is a good book as far as Connor is concerned!

~Jess