Usually, Megan and Austen each get to pick a story and they get to pick whether mommy or daddy reads it to them. When Mason gets a bit older, I'm sure he'll join the fun. For now, he just plays quietly while we read the stories. Funny thing though: at naptime, he'll want to sit on my lap while I read the kids the naptime story.
When I was little, my mom, and oma and opa always read "Jip and Janneke" to Rick, Petra, and I. We loved it. If you're not familiar with these classic Dutch characters, click here. The book is huge! It's compiled of little stories. They're about toddler/preschooler age I would say and they have some pretty funny adventures.
I've been searching everywhere for an English translation of this big book. All I have found so far is a small book called "Jip and Janneke in Holland" and it's not the same. It is a fun book to introduce kids to Jip and Janneke and show us Canadian kids what Dutch kids are like, but it isn't a direct translation of the big book I'm looking for.
So, what did I do? I've started just translating them myself. Why not? For now, it's just verbally. Each night we read a few stories and I just read it in English. The kids absolutely love it. Some things I had to change, just so they could understand, but mostly, I just translate it directly. The kids are so entranced with the stories. We have a long way to go to finish the book but for now, they are asking for the stories any chance they get. They even asked Ian to read it one night but he just laughed and told them that that is mommy's department. Or Oma's. Or aunt Petra's. Or Uncle Rick's.
I can't wait to read more of the stories to the kids. I'm so glad that they like the stories and that I can share this with them even though the language barrier is there. Maybe one day www.bol.com will translate the Jip and Janneke book into English and I'll be the first to buy it.
Our "Jip en Janneke" book.
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