Sandbox Book Club #1

Sandbox Book Club Recommendation #1
Bear in Underwear

This book is kind of a funny place to start out on our book club adventures, but it is so omnipresent in my life that I can think of little else!

Last week Jax did something unprecedented.  He actually wore a pair of big boy underwear.  He wore them over his diaper, but I appreciate any step in the potty training direction, no matter how small.  However, he has only worn them once since and has pretty much stopped trying to use the training potty altogether.  I would definitely say there has been a big lull in any progress we had made in this department.

Except that we talk about it all day long.  Why?  Because of his absolute new favorite book that we have read no less than twenty times since it came into our home five days ago.  He makes people read it when they come over.  It comes upstairs.  It goes downstairs.  It comes in the bathroom.  It goes in his crib with him at night.  He is completely obsessed with a book that is covertly about potty training, even though he couldn't care less about doing it himself.

The book in question is called Bear In Underwear.  If you have a potty-training toddler you should go buy it right now.  It has a slight Spongebob-iness to its illustrations, but otherwise I think it's hilarious.  And Jax thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread.

See?  Bear (and his buddy Big Foot) join us for lunch.

So the basic summary is that Bear stumbles upon a backpack full of different types of underwear, and he has to find the pair that fit him just right.  In the end, he chooses the tighty whiteys (that's what they are called in the book!) and it's great because they look like little boy underwear, so Jax can relate.  I enjoy this book because it has kind of informal diction (word choice).  When his animal friends are helping bear choose his underwear and they disapprove, they say things like, "Lame" and "Dorky."  I can't wait until Jax sees my sweatpant ensemble one morning and tells me I look lame!

And in the end, all the animals "need" underwear!  I hope that some of that urge to wear big boy underwear wears off on Jax!  He loves to have them and look at them, but when I ask if he wants to put them on, he very quickly answers, "No!"  I tell him that Bear likes his underwear, which seems to sway him for a minute, but then he shakes his head once more.  Hopefully, Bear will be instrumental in our fight against diapers!

And in case you have a little girl, there is Bear in Pink Underwear, too!