When my son was a little boy, I read to him nightly. He loved to hear me read to him. I audio-recorded several sets of tapes, with me reading about 30 minutes worth of stories on each side of each tape, and his favorite "toy" became an audio tape player and his "mommy tapes." Each tape had a different picture-coded sticker on each side. He learned what picture would produce what stories, and he would select which "mommy tape" to play. This was before he was two-and-a-half years old.

The tapes were saved and used for his sister when she came along. Over the years, the tapes were damaged, discarded, lost, forgotten. I had thought they were all gone. Then, as I began plowing through my daughter's old room, years after she had moved out and moved on to her grown-up life, I found one audio tape.

I share here, for my son and my daughter. They can hear the voice of a 31-year-old mother reading to them.

Side #1:
The Angry Moon
The Patchwork Cat
Stone Soup
The Gingerbread Boy
I Had But Fifty Cents
Barefoot Boy
Running Owl the Hunter
Hiawatha

Side #2:
The Velveteen Rabbit
Peter Rabbit
Benjamin Bunny
The Runaway Bunny
The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings

Memories

on his bounce horse
Easter morning same Halloween, in the evening Remember "Rover"?  Your "pet" at the beach.  :-)
birthday party, 1989, with big brother as the magician at a Camp Fire weekend event The red dress and the navy sweater were from a store that sold 2nd hand clothes.
Assateague Island.  You two dug a hole in the sand.
Lighting the WoHeLo candle to start the awards ceremony. You're both in the picture.  All of the kids carried flags, and the military men saluted when we walked by.
After a Camp Fire overnight at the Science Center. the new U.S. Marine and his sister, at Parris Island

As Christopher Robin said to Winnie the Pooh:

If ever there's a tomorrow when we're not together, there's something you must remember:
You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.
I'll always be with you.


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