He was one cool cat with one cool hat

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday. Jen's school is having a "Dr. Seuss" week and every day of this week has some kind of theme related to his books.

Today everyone came to school wearing pajamas. Even the teachers! I thought it was cool. I even took Jen to school AND walked her to her class in MY pajamas. Just so she wouldn't feel left out. ;)

The whole thing with the pajamas made me think about something I'd been mulling over yesterday. Yesterday, my husband spent the whole day in his PJ's. He didn't even shower. He was going to ENJOY his weekend, darn it! And while I silently applauded his determination to just be so laid back for ONE DAY out of his VERY hectic week, I kept wishing I could also spend the day in my jammies, without a shower and just watching TV.

Ah, to be young again. And not a mom.

See, when you ARE a mom, those days just DON'T happen anymore. Unless...you've broken your leg. Or the kids are spending the weekend at Grandma's house. Or they're away at camp. THEN you get to stay in your jammies all day. Watch TV. Order a pizza instead of cooking a meal. Read a book nonstop for hours....

...Hm. Now all of a sudden, I want to shuttle them off to my mom's! LOL Just kidding! :) All of that stuff IS a nice fantasy, but I already had my fun BEFORE I had my children. Those days are long past.

Still, the birthday boy's legacy doesn't mean my responsibilities as an adult have to be all "boring" and "hectic." In fact, the number one reason why I LOVE reading Dr. Seuss books so much is because, just once, I get to be a kid again. Just for a little bit. Whenever I read any of his books, I'm taken back to my childhood. I remember that childhood carefree innocence. And I remember watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" as a kid and reading those books as a kid.

And even ACTING like a kid when I read them even now.

In honor of his birthday, we read EIGHT of her Dr. Seuss' books. We read for a whole hour!! I LOVED singing as I read The Foot Book and Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Yes, I sang them. I mean, why not! They have a sort of tune if you read them a certain way! Jennifer loved that, too. And, you know, when she was a toddler, her favorite book was The Cat in the Hat. She'd ask me to reread it to her sooo many times.

Oh, and she read a WHOLE BOOK all by herself today! ALL! BY! HER! SELF!! Wow, what a nice birthday present to Theodor Seuss Geisel. And the VERY FIRST book she read all by herself was...Green Eggs and Ham. She kept commenting how silly Sam-I-Am was and she just kept laughing over lines like "Would you eat them in a box?" and "Would you eat them with a fox?" I was sooo proud of her but at the same time, I felt a little sad. My baby is growing up so fast. *sigh*

But I've got a feeling that, thanks to Dr. Seuss and his books, she, like a lot of us, will get to have some small part of herself remain a kid forever.