Children's books are funny

Logan loves his books--a trait I hope he keeps forever. And I especially like it that he's interested in many of the same books I loved as a kid. I had what I thought were clear memories of my favorite childhood books...until I started reading them to Logan. Now I look at them sometimes with a befuddled expression, wondering, "So what was the message this author was trying to get across?" I leave you with my new impressions of a few of Logan's (and my former) favorite books:

Scuffy the Tugboat, the tale of a pompous little toy tugboat that isn't happy to be a mere toy in a toy shop, but wants "bigger things" for himself. Sorry to spoil the ending, but he eventually makes it to the ocean, is overwhelmed and frightened, and is saved by the toy store owner. Scuffy happily returns to the toy store after his escapade. So, I ask, what is the moral of this story? Don't bother adventuring too far away from home, because you'll probably just have the pants scared off of you anyway?

The Poky Little Puppy: C'mon, you know this one. The puppy breaks the rules and ventures out with his sibs to explore the wide, wide world (very Scuffy-esque), and he avoids punishment by arriving home way past curfew. The consequence of his actions? He eats the dessert that was meant for the entire poochy family all by himself...twice. He finally gets his comeuppance when his puppy siblings destroy his route back home. That night, he gets no dessert. So, again, what's the moral? Go ahead and disobey your mother. Two times out of three, you'll have all the dessert your little stomach can handle?

Little Miss Naughty: I really don't think I need to explain myself about the wrong-headedness of this one.

While the moral message of some of his books might be confusing, Logan continues to show me just how much my actions teach him. We were in the basement this morning, and he was desperately searching for a toy: "Where is it?! I know I put it somewhere. It's got to be here somewhere." After initially shuddering, I chuckled to hear my words voiced so perfectly by my toddler. Just goes to show you how often I lose (or misplace) things on any given day.