Phonebook Results from Google

I learned something interesting the other day. If you type a phone number into the search box on Google, it lists the person's name and address, and has a link to a Google map showing that address. I tried it out with my home phone number as well as several other phone numbers and it worked each time. (It did not work for my cell phone number, however.)

Drew and Gracie are still too young to use the Internet, but I find it a little bit scary that if in the future they give out even so little information as their phone number, a person could potentially find our name and address and even have a map to our home.

If you click on the Phonebook results link in the Google search results, it does have a link to request to remove your name from the list. I'm sure there are other places on the Internet besides Google that allow you to look up a name to go with a phone number, but I still found it startling that this information is so easy to find.

Gracie's Summer Reading List (Part 3)

Here is Gracie's reading list for the last two weeks. We have had a couple of busy weeks so we only read most of these books once or twice.

I think Gracie especially enjoys library days. We go to the story time and then choose a new stack of ten or twenty books. When we get home, we sit together on the couch and read through our entire stack of books. Then for the rest of the week we re-read the books that Gracie likes best.

This evening I got to wondering if maybe Gracie and I choose too many books. Maybe she would enjoy them more if we only chose four or five new ones each week. It just seems that by the time she chooses some and I choose some, we have a huge stack. At least she is being exposed to many different books each week, and we do take time to re-read and savor our favorites.

Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson
One-Dog Canoe by Mary Casanova
Nothing at All by Denys Cazet
Alfred's Alphabet Walk by Victoria Chess
Because Your Daddy Loves You by Andrew Clements
Ducks Fly by Lydia Dabcovich
Daisy Rabbit's Tree House by Penny Dale
My Drum by Kay Davies and Wendy Oldfield
Carl's Birthday by Alexandra Day
The Raggy Taggy Toys by Joyce Dunbar
Zoo's Who by Douglas Florian
Hush, Little Baby: A Folk Song with Pictures by Marla Frazee
Seeing by Helen Frost
King of the Mountain by Janie Spaht Gill
The Tub That Became a Boat by Janie Spaht Gill
The American Flag by Susan H. Gray
The Big Enough Helper by Nancy Hall
Shadows and Reflections by Tana Hoban
Kipper and Roly by Mick Inkpen
Little Kippers Sandcastle by Mick Inkpen
I Hear by Rachel Isadora
Albert the Running Bear Gets the Jitters by Barbara Isenberg and Susan Wolf
When Panda Came to Our House by Helen Zane Jensen
Rainbow Fish and Friends Hide-And-Seek by Susan Hill Long
My "e" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "h" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "i" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "n" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
My "w" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
The Hippo-Not-amus by Tony and Jan Payne
Chicken Bedtime is Really Early by Erica S. Perl
The Box with Red Wheels by Maud and Miska Petersham
Oh, Look! by Patricia Polacco
Sea Anemones by Lola M. Schaefer
Some Kids Are Blind by Lola M. Schaefer
Some Kids Use Wheelchairs by Lola M. Schaefer
Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book by Alexander Stadler
Fast Friends by James Stevenson
There's Nothing to Do! by James Stevenson
Good Night Twinklegator by Kazuko G. Stone
Sophie and Jack by Judy Taylor
Number Rhymes by Carol Thompson
I Was All Thumbs by Bernard Waber
Hide and Sleep by Melanie Walsh
I Can Ride It! by Shigeo Watanabe

New Shoes

Today I took Drew and Gracie to get new shoes. I am sure I pay way too much for kids' shoes, but I always take them to the Stride Rite store in town because I appreciate having someone who knows what they're doing measure my kids' feet. I really appreciate the people at the store I go to because they have never tried to sell me shoes when we didn't need them. They even talked me out of buying shoes for Gracie once -- she wasn't walking yet, but I really wanted to buy some cute shoes for my baby girl -- and they told me to come back in a couple of months when she started walking.

This was Drew's first pair of shoes, and it was really funny to see his reaction to them. First, he curled his toes under so it was really hard to get his new shoes on. Once he finally had shoes on for the first time, he acted like he didn't know what to do with his feet. For a few minutes he wouldn't move them at all. Then, holding onto my fingers, he started walking backward. When he finally took a few steps forward, he was lifted each foot high in a very exaggerated motion. It was so cute to watch. I imagine he will get used to his new shoes once he wears them a little bit.