Our Seuss Day

All good Seuss Days start with pancakes.  Light, fluffy, Lorax-orange pancakes with sprinkles and candles to kick off our celebration of books, color, and silly little Whos down in Whoville.  Beau thought my candle in the pancakes was taking things a little too far, however, who says candles only come once a year.  I like to think Seuss himself was smiling at that one, watching little Cruz, with his bed head hair and bare feet, staring ever so intently at that lopsided candle, giving it all the air he had in him.  
 

Maybe he'd even write a book about it.
 

  
So our morning started with pancakes.  I let Cruz dump in the flour, whisk in the egg, and watch the batter turn from pancake yellow to Lorax orange with a few drops of food coloring.  We added some sprinkles and syrup, poured glasses of milk, and added some Cat in the Hat inspired fruit skewers to our plates.  We talked about Seuss, shared our favorite books or facts we knew about him, and read books at the table while we ate.  My favorite fact?  Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet to see if he could publish a book with less than 50 different words.  
 

I'd say he accomplished the task with flying colors. 
 

After breakfast and bath time, we did some Seuss-inspired crafting.  We painted Cat in the Hat's hat (a free template I found here) and had some fun tracing Cruz's little hand for a One Fish, Two Fish craft I found on Pinterest.  Simple, colorful, and super cute hanging up in Cruz's room.
 

  

For lunch, I decided to bring back our Muffin Tin Monday ritual from this summer, creating a Seussical lunch inspired by his most beloved books.  We had 'green eggs and ham', cat in the hat parfaits, one fish, two fish crackers, and for dessert, truffela tree cupcakes.  I read Cat in the Hat, presented Cruz with his very own striped hat, and watched him carefully absorb the delicious treats in front of him.
 

  

After an afternoon nap, it was books in Cruz's room, a Seussical snack mix, and a carpet picnic in the living room watching The Lorax, building our own Whoville out of duplos, and dancing in circles in honor of Dr. Seuss. 
 

My camera couldn't keep up with all the color, and Cruz fully absorbed the day's events with interest and joy.  I hope to make this day a tradition and reason to celebrate around here, as we really do owe so much to this man who became one of the founding fathers of children's literature.  The man had no children of his own, but I'm so thankful he shared his love of rhyme and silly and creativity with mine.

Even my squirt couldn't resist a picture or two of our creation!   

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!  Thanks for filling our bookshelves with your one-of-kind imagination.