early literacy

What We Read This Week (Relief)

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Since my last ‘what we read’ post, I have read Sleepytime many, many times. Every night for nearly 2 weeks, 1-3 times. There were many cuddles. What I especially loved was that C would start saying the Bingo and Floppy lines, then the whole second half of the book.

And then, one night, she started taking every single book off the bookshelf. What are you doing? I’m looking for my favourite book.

I had a feeling I knew which one it was. But I tried to deflect. Nursery rhymes? No. Bluey? No. Katie Morag? No, Cat in the Hat! Not the fish one!

We don’t have Cat in the Hat. She meant Fox in Socks. Such a tongue twister for a tired mummy. I do love the tweetle beetles, though.

So for a few nights I had to stumble my way through that, with C giggling uncontrollably whenever I made an error and did a raspberry. 

Then it was the daycare Christmas party, with a visit from Santa! (Although she’s not sure this was the actual real life Santa, the glasses were the wrong shape, and the beard…). And Santa gave her a present! A book! It is, of course, now her favourite book. Such a relief from the tongue twisters. It is called the River Riddle and is an illustrated version of the river riddle, where you have a boat, a person, a fox, a sheep, and hay. Her favourite part? There’s singing! (That is, music notes on the page). So MY favourite bit is when she shows me this bit by acting it out. Gold.

What We Read This Week (We Love Bluey)

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Until Sunday, I was thinking C would pick One Woolly Wombat or the Nursery Rhyme Book as her favourite book this week. They were, after all, read more than once each.

But then Monday happened. New Bluey. Quick visit from grandparents (my parents). And my mum loves providing drawing materials and reading materials, so there was a trip to the store for a new drawing pad and C’s choice of new book. She saw Bluey: Sleepytime (my absolute favourite episode) and wanted me to read it to her there. I read the first page then realised I may end up reading half the book section to her before lunch so… her new book is Bluey: Sleepytime (Joe Brumm). Read right after purchase by my parents while I did some extra shopping. Excitedly shown to daddy when we got home and read by him. Read by me for bedtime story, and again, then again while she was in bed. Read by me again tonight for bedtime story along with loads of questions about all sorts of aspects of the story. It is her favourite. It is my favourite. 

I could write at length about the amazingness that is the Sleepytime episode, or my reactions when first watching it. And maybe I shall but not just yet. We love the music and listened to it on the weekend (very proud mummy here when C recognised the Jupiter music as the music from Sleepytime). And there is that bit, that bit that always makes me cry after all the humour and emotion and the buildup and then it all tumbles out. They put that in the book of course and I tear up trying to read it, every time.

Remember, I’ll always be here for you. Even if you can’t see me. Because I love you.

What We Read This Week (Jenny and Madeline)

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Not so many stories were read this week. The reason? C had a couple of nights when she spent about an hour and a half in the bath. After my second ‘time to get out of the bath now’ if she doesn’t get out then she doesn’t get a story. I think I miss it more than she does but by that stage of the evening there’s very little left by way of consequences.

Still, when I asked her to choose her favourite story from the week, she had a tough choice. Jenny’s Bear (Michael Ratnett & June Goulding)? Or Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans)? She vacillated a little but settled on Jenny’s Bear. Her favourite bit? When the bear arrives and drinks the pretend tea. Pretend tea!!! It’s very funny.

(We played nail salon this week, can you tell?!)

She also loves Madeline (we have Madeline In London). Partly I think because Ruby Red Shoes also goes to London, and partly because there is so much in the story. We can only have it when she is very speedy when getting out of the bath though.

My personal favourite from this week was a repeat from last week. Nursery Rhymes came out again, and Old Mother Hubbard was read and reread. And C wanted to read it herself for the first time. It was the funniest thing all day. Such a nonsensical rhyme anyway, but when you can’t actually read so just go on memory and also possibly don’t understand ALL of the words and just tack on a second half of a verse even if it doesn’t match the first half… Gold.

E has been going for regular favourites (Hungry Caterpillar and the Green Sheep) but also playing with a stack of little animal books (10 chunky books from Green Start). Each has 3 pages with rhymes about different animals. We bought them before C was born so I have read them over and over. Bonus: great for teething babies.

What We Read This Week

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It seems E has a favourite book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The edition we have (on extended loan from neighbours) is a beautiful size for little hands, and has little holes where the caterpillar eats all the food just perfect for little fingers to explore. E will make a beeline for it whenever she sees it, and if I start reading it to her before she sees I have it she immediately turns her face to me and breaks out in a smile. Delightful.

Every now and then, C insists on ‘the Humpty Dumpty book’. Which is, of course, a large collection of nursery rhymes. Duh. Humpty Dumpty is the first in the book but it is a superb collection. Nursery rhymes I remember from when I was little, nursery rhymes we sang and recited when I took her to the local library baby rhyme time sessions. Yes, it was very useful to have around for those longer rhymes with oodles of verses (one, two, buckle my shoe … nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty!). Her absolute favourite in the book, that we will end with after I’ve read a few, is Old Mother Hubbard. The first time through she will let out a sudden laugh about halfway through, then subsequent readings the laugh starts earlier and earlier and there are many dramatic ‘WHAAAT???’s and ‘WHY IS SHE BUYING THE DOG A COAT?’ And ‘WHY – WHY – WHY IS THE DOG RIDING A GOAT?’ And other questions that are all logical and hilarious. So many questions. Perhaps not the calmest thing to read right before bed but who am I to argue?

We have also been reading (as seen in the pic) The Toymaker and The Bird (Pamela Allen), We’re Going On A Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury), and There’s No Such Thing As Monsters! (Steve Smallman and Caroline Pedler). All very much loved.

What We Read This Week (Katie Morag)

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Usually, the end of the week sees a pile of books on my sofa. This week there is no such pile, just a pile of ever-changing washing that needs sorting. There is no pile because C has been asking for the same book every night for over a week: Katie Morag’s Island Stories (Mairi Hedderwick). Before this week it had been a few months since we had read any so I was surprised and impressed when I asked C which one of them she wanted and she could tell me. 

There are four stories in the book: Katie Morag Delivers the Mail; Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers (‘Katie Morag and the Sheep’); Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted; and Katie Morag and the Big Boy Cousins. When asked which was her favourite C responded ‘ALL of them!’ It seems a revision of ‘favourite’ needs to happen soon. That said, she has asked for them all about equally so maybe she’s right. 

Last night, when I had a paragraph to go (her choice of story was the sheep), C interrupted me. ‘Mummy? I got out of the bath when you asked me to tonight… So… does that mean I can have another story please?’ How could I resist that? 

There are many reasons why we enjoy these stories.

They are set on a Scottish island (the Isle of Struay) so my Scottish heritage is loving it.

They are a bit more grown-up than many of C’s other stories. Not overly, but I think because Katie Morag is about 7 (maybe?) it feels more grown up. And Katie Morag is a big sister which I think also appeals to C.

They have wonderful illustrations. It didn’t hit me at first, it just looked like nice watercolour pictures of a small Scottish island with Scottish people and some animals and the sea. But there are so, so many details that we keep finding new things. My favourite discovery was when C said, with a mischievous grin in her voice, ‘Mummy! Why is there a boooooob out?’ Sure enough, there was a breastfeeding mum uncovered. Little things carry over from one story to the next, like a teddy bear outfit. The Grannie has a violin which is played at a party. And, our newest discovery from last night – the books the children are reading in bed are the Katie Morag stories. Fun.

What We Read This Week (Baby Favourites)

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This week saw a major reorganisation in our place. One of the driving factors was the overflowing bookshelf. We now have a much more spacious bookshelf in use but that has meant no more of the baby gravitating to the books. It seems the same four books have been read all week.

Who Sank the Boat? (Pamela Allen). Every time it reads ‘Do YOU know who sank the boat?’ C calls out ‘MOUSEY!’ So I guess I need to teach her about rhetorical questions soon.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle). Such a winner in our family right now. C isn’t fantastic with days of the week yet and this book is really helping. E loves putting her fingers in the little holes and, well, eating the book.

Good Morning, Gumnuts (one of the Gumnut Babies books, inspired by May Gibbs). One of C’s books really (but sharing is caring, right?) and I had to really lay down the law and not let her go as a gumnut baby for Book Week. Yikes.

Higgly Hen (Axel Scheffler). The winning feature of this book is the sound button. Who doesn’t love the sound of chickens? E will go for it if she is in sight of it so we often hear random chickens while she plays.

C has been in a big Ruby Red Shoes phase. It’s been a year since my Mum gave her the first book (which I was asked to read every night for about 6 weeks before it went into standard rotation); since then Mum has also given Ruby Red Shoes Goes to London (‘Ruby Red Shoes on the bus’); Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris (in which I must read the 3rd postcard repeatedly); and A Book About Ruby’s Feelings (which often turns into a matching game for the pictures). C loves Ruby so much that she went as her for Book Week (the shoes are really a dark red colour but that didn’t come out well in this photo). I absolutely love reading her all of the Ruby books, partly because it reminds me of my Mum, partly because the words are so gentle and evocative, partly because I would love to be in Ruby’s world. Is that strange? The outfits, the nature, the food, the flowers… I find it inspiring.Thank you, Kate Knapp.

Unofficial Milestones

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The last couple of weeks have been rough. Gastro went through the whole family. Our easy baby stopped sleeping. Parent guilt has hit hard as I spend my time trying to get her to sleep and struggle to spend time with, you know, our other child. 

But through all this, there have been little things happening, the little things that make up a life and are the very reason I wanted to write this blog, not wanting to lose them. The little things that are, nonetheless, important. The little things that don’t make it to the milestone pages but maybe they should. 

Like when a baby learns to put her head down, that being on her tummy doesn’t mean she must have her head raised. That resting her head can bring great comfort to her, or be incredibly adorable when it is rested for 3 seconds and then raised again with the smile of achievement as she eyeballs you.

Like when a 3-year-old starts using ‘like’, and ‘so’. Or when she starts ‘reading’ the stories to me and taking hints from the letters as to which word it is. Bonus points for doing different voices, and interjecting comments about the pictures or storyline. 

Like when a daddy can put a ponytail in young, fine, curly hair, a ponytail that doesn’t pull or hurt but does stay in for the whole day. 

These are our little things. Important, little, us.