Dora Loves

Julia decided to make a book of poems today, declaring upon finishing, "Mom, tonight I'm going to have Daddy read me THREE poems, and they're MINE that I wrote.  But Mom, do you think Daddy will think this is a real book, or do you think he'll recognize my handwriting?"

Let me see.  How many of you, upon seeing the poem book's cover, would guess it was a Julia book, and how many of you would think this is a REAL book?:

It took some convincing before Julia would buy the fact that Ethan will *probably* recognize this to be a home-made Julia book:

ME: Well, I think Daddy will probably know you made it.
JULIA: But HOW?
ME: Well, I think he'll recognize your handwriting.
JULIA: How WILL he?
ME: Well, because he knows you.  When you know someone and you've seen how they write, you can usually recognize their handwriting.
JULIA: Well, like, I can recognize how MADELEINE writes.
ME: I can too.  And I can recognize your handwriting, and I can recognize Daddy's.
JULIA: Well, you and Daddy write the same, so I can't really tell what's Daddy's between what's YOURS.

I'd like to argue that Daddy's is much messier.

Ironically, though the book of poems is entitled "Dora Loves," the poems have absolutely nothing to do with Dora.  Instead, her poems boast such titles as "The Blubber Octopus,":

"Halloween,":

and "Love":

And, wow. What a powerful message. Next time you're trying to think of a poetic way to express your love to someone, I'm sure the Poet Julia wouldn't mind you borrowing a phrase from her and telling someone dear to you that "Love is heart." Beautifully phrased.