Toddlers may be the funniest people you’ll ever meet. They know exactly what they want and have no idea what they want. They take everything seriously, and they take nothing seriously. They can go from laughing uncontrollably to crying uncontrollably and back to laughing in an instant.
Everything in this world is still new to toddlers, so the ordinary is extraordinary, and the extraordinary is ordinary. They are amazed by almost everything and yet shocked by little. They marvel at a pigeon as they would at a phoenix. A dog is as much of a wonder as a unicorn would be.
When I experienced life through the eyes of my first toddler, I didn’t know I’d be blessed to go through the toddler years four more times. Seventeen years after my first, my youngest child is a perfect toddler. His legs move too fast for the rest of his body, sometimes resulting in falls. He laughs so hard his whole body shakes. He sings himself to sleep, he sings when he’s waking up, and he sings as he goes about his day. He is a delight.
There are many activities we do during the day that I love, but it’s hard not to love story time before bed the most. Pajamas are on, teeth are brushed, and his hair smells good from his bath. I pull him into my lap, and he snuggles against me so sweetly as we read four books and then two more, as he always requests.
Frequently, those two more books he requests are Lois Lenski’s board books. Lenski’s prolific career included authoring almost one hundred books, illustrating several famous works of other authors, and winning several awards and honorary degrees for her body of work. Many of her books are historical fiction or novels that portray children of her day from different regions of the United States. But her Mr. Small series is my favorite. These books are little, and so is their intended audience, but they are stories I can read again and again.
Each book has Mr. Small working at a different occupation, and he can do them all. He’s a cowboy, pilot, policeman, and firefighter. He sails a sailboat and works on a farm. Mr. Small works hard at whatever he does. Sometimes he fails, too. In Cowboy Small, after a hard fall, Cowboy Small has to get back on the horse. In The Little Sailboat, Mr. Small decides to make the best of an accidental tumble into the water and take a swim. Lenski’s acknowledgement that things don’t always go as we want is the gentle introduction to our limited abilities that toddlers need, without ever preaching or moralizing. It just happens, and you just move on. There’s danger in these books, too. In The Little Fire Engine, Mr. Small has to rescue a girl and her cat from a house fire. There is no drama—just a mama telling her child help is on the way, and brave men rescuing the girl and her cat.
Lenski clearly knew and respected children. Her prose is concise and meaningful. Her tone is matter-of-fact in a way that toddlers can appreciate. They want to know the way the world is. They are learning at an incredible rate and can handle knowing there are hard things when they also know there are good people taking care of them.
At the end of a day, my toddler runs to his bookshelf and pulls down one of the Mr. Small books for me to read. He hands it to me, and I pull him into the bed where I’m waiting for him to snuggle. Tonight’s book is falling apart due to being loved so well, but that’s part of the charm. My toddler knows the first few sentences and says them with me.
All of the Mr. Small books show an order to the world and one’s day, making them perfect for a bedtime book. Mr. Small works hard. Mr. Small helps people out. Mr. Small goes home at the end of his day. And then it’s time to rest.
[Editor’s note: These books are classics, so some of them are easier to find for purchase on sites like Alibris or ThriftBooks. Happy hunting!]
The Burkes lived overseas for three years and have been to almost 20 countries together, surviving some adventures they will never speak of to the grandparents.
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