Baby's First Book.

Mister Seahorse, by Eric Carle

DH's mom is visiting the Sunshine State this week; she flew in the night before last and stayed with us for one evening. A girl friend picked her up yesterday afternoon in her sporty little convertible Mini Cooper for a few days of gallivanting around Florida. I am more than just a shade jealous, but in a good way. We anticipate that MIL will come back to spend a couple more days with us before she heads home--she's going to do a little bit of mural painting on the nursery wall.

As it would turn out, MIL's friend is the wife of children's book author Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar is perhaps his best known work). And she brought Pokey a present: an autographed copy of Mister Seahorse, which, of course, is perfectly apropos for a child who will spend a good deal of her pupae-hood on the beach, no doubt.

I think what's most charming about this book, which was not a part of my childhood book collection, is its true-to-life subject matter: rare instances of parenting in the oceanic animal kingdom. Even more unique, it is paternal parenting. It brought tears to my eyes when I thought about DH reading to Pokey.

What a lovely, surprising gift. And what a way to start her library, don't you think?