Day 55: Everywhere Babies

A month or so ago, I featured Harriet Zierfert's Waiting for Baby in honor of my many friends who were pregnant at the time.  Well, those friends have now had their babies, including two dear friends of mine from college who welcomed their little ones into the world in the past two days (congratulations, Steffeys and Hicks!)  So now, rather than simply waiting for babies, there are babies everywhere!  Hooray!  Along with Waiting for Baby, Everywhere Babies was my son's favorite book before my daughter was born.  He was two and a half at the time, and we were desperately trying to get him used to the idea of becoming a big brother and having a little baby around the house.  He just fell in love with this book and still loves to read it even now that his little sister is almost ten months old.  (In fact, I just had to take a break from writing this to read it to him.)  Everywhere Babies is simply wonderful for children of all ages.  It describes all the things that babies do and the way they are loved by their families.  "Everyday, everywhere, babies are born," kissed, dressed, fed, rocked, and carried.  They make noise, play games, crawl, walk, and most importantly, are loved for "being so wonderful just as they are."  The lines have a lovely rhythmic flow to them as they describe the way babies grow throughout their first year, and Marla Frazee's illustrations do a fabulous job of depicting these wonderful events.  There are so many things I love about her pictures, from the way they show all kinds of different families to the accurate little details in her drawings that will make any parent smile.  (As an exhausted nursing mom, I particularly love the way she depicts the mom asleep in the rocking chair!  Marla Frazee must be a mother.)  This book would make a great gift for any child, particularly one who is about to or has recently become a big brother or sister.  Yay for babies everywhere!