Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Rating: 5+ stars

This morning, I needed Pete.  And Pete was there for me.  He is my hero.

I've been in a funk the past few days; waking up at 4:58 for the third day in a row did not help get this morning started off well.  (If Kiefer's molars don't come all the way through today, I might take him to the dentist and ask for some assistance so I can sleep in for at LEAST 15 more minutes.)  But at least the little guy wakes up happy to see me, seemingly appreciative of the time he gets to spend with just me, and nobody else.

But then I heard a certain door open at 5:24 and the "Mommy-mommy-mommy I need you come here I need you Mommy-mommy-mommy" (said in cry-y, whine-y voice) started.  I love Ben, but MAN I cannot relate to waking up so sad and mad at the world.  I am one of those annoying people who, even while in a funk, wakes up happy.

Ben trips down the stairs, half-undressed, already crying, with his "mad face" on.  My oh-so-unsympathetic response: "Choose to be happy and stay downstairs, or go back to sleep."  It wasn't received well (can't imagine why).

Ben, crazy with happiness!
(At 7:36 AM, after being awake for 2 hours.)

Anyway, I'll spare you the details of the next hour and half as the boys and I woke up Lorelei (who, as always, woke up laughing as we all bounced on her to wake her up), made breakfast, and got everyone ready for their last week of school.  And then I looked at the clock: 7:30.  I still had an HOUR before the sitter got here and I left to take the kids to school and work out.  Geez.  An hour!  How was I going to fill that time?!

Enter Pete the cat, my hero.

Ben has been telling me about this book for a little while, and I finally saw it at the library and grabbed it.  And I read it a few nights ago.  I am going to buy it, and the other two books along with it.  I LOVE IT!  Why?  It has all of my favorite parts of a children's book:

1. It is simple; Ben has memorized all the words already.
2. It is fun to read, mostly because...
3. It has a SONG--wait, make that FOUR songs in it--and they can bring Ben's cheery smile back in a jiffy (and, the tune can be changed to anything else at any time, and the cheery smile comes back because he remembers Pete the cat and his favorite book when I sing it).
4. It has a groovy character that is cool but still nice.
5. It has a fantastic moral to it.

I had seen on the cover of the book the "download free song at..." and though the kids rarely use my laptop for anything, I said to Ben, who was looking around for something to do that would have probably annoyed me though it probably really shouldn't have "Hey, Ben, want to listen to something?"  And he sat for 15 blessedly happy minutes listening to the book and song being read and sung to him again and again and again.  Click here to listen, too.  Or check out this video (it is so worth it!  I double dare you to watch it and not smile.):

And my morning got a little brighter.

Maybe I should tell you about the book, in case you don't want to watch the video?  Okay...  Pete gets new shoes and loves them.  He sings this song: "I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes!"  Then he steps in strawberries that turn his shoes red, so he sings how he loves his red shoes.  Then he steps in blueberries and...  After each time he steps in something, he sure doesn't cry or carry on.  The author, "Mr Eric," writes: "Did Pete cry?  Goodness, no!"  This happens a few times, until he steps in water and he has white, wet shoes.

The moral of the story?  As Mr Eric the author puts it: "No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song..."

Roll with it.  A good lesson I've been taught lately and need to practice more.  Like today.

So thank you, Pete the cat, my hero for today.