Babies don’t like doing errands or sitting through a church service all that much. So smart moms bring interesting treats in the diaper bag: a small bag of cereal or crackers, water, and a book can add extra good behavior time. Make the book a reward. A colorful, board book with thick pages a baby can turn himself is more fun than being shushed. It is one of many first steps to loving to read.

A baby is too young to talk, but he is not too young to take his first steps in reading: sit in a lap if one is available, turn the pages, point at a picture, bark or wait until a grown up says the word for the picture. Animal books are good because animals make sounds that babies can make (arf arf, moo moo, baaa). Don’t worry if he turns 10 pages at a time. We want him to enjoy holding the book, looking at pictures and making sounds. Loving the whole experience is what

We just painted the girls’ bedroom pink. Actually, when I worked in the florist shop, we called that dark, heavy version of pink, “Pank.” The painter who painted the bedroom says he calls it “pank.” Every pink looks different in different lights, has a gray version and a clear version, a dark and a light, a warm and a cool, and a pink and a pank. That is why learning his colors is so hard for a little kid to do. It is why we grown-ups need to tell a child the name of the colo