The Kids Week In Books, No. 4

You are probably familiar with the "Over in the Meadow" rhyme, but the version illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats is really exceptional. The art in this book is fabulous - it's a mixture of pressed plants, marbelized papers, and painting, with vibrant colors that capture the subjects beautifully. Don't miss this version.

We love Mog. Mog is a forgetful and funny cat who lives with a family called Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas spend a lot of time saying "bother that cat!" and the Thomas kids try to help Mog out and finagle her extra eggs to eat. "Mog Time" is a compilation of six Mog stories, which makes for a marathon session of Mog, but Hannah won't let me put the book down until all are completed. Judith Kerr's illustrations are cute and show more of Mog's emotions than just the text alone. When we first started reading about Mog, Hannah quickly noticed that her kitten puppet looks a lot like the character in the book, so the kitten has been called "Mog" ever since. Hannah's Mog has only one eye and has had all her fur loved off. I expect the Nursery Magic Fairy to come by any time to make that cat Real.

Judith Kerr also wrote and illustrated the delightful book "The Tiger Who Came to Tea." In this story, Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea when a big, furry, stripy tiger comes by and joins them. The tiger proceeds to eat all the sandwiches, all the buns, all the biscuits, and all the cake, drink all the tea, and then eat Sophie's family out of house and home, including all the packets and tins in the cupboard, before leaving. Sophie's mummy is dismayed to find they've nothing to serve Daddy for supper, but Daddy has the brilliant idea of walking to a cafe, where they enjoy a lovely supper of sausages and chips and ice cream. Just to be on the safe side, Sophie and her mummy purchase a large tin of tiger food in case the tiger comes back. This book is so fun!


"In the Small, Small Pond" by Denise Fleming is a Caldecott Honor Book and has very intriguing illustrations. The text is simple descriptions of the teeming life in a small pond, but the pictures really bring it all to life using a mixture of media and bright colors. Although the text is simple, the word choice is strong and descriptive.

I'm Melting

Today when Jack woke up from his morning nap, Hannah wanted to give him a hug. As she hugged him, she announced,

"We YUV diss boy!"

I know she has heard me say, "We love this boy!" many times, but it was so so so cute to hear it from her!

The Kids Week In Books, No. 3

I wish I owned "1 is One" and "A is for Annabelle" by Tasha Tudor. I can't begin to tell you how gorgeous these little books are. Each page is full of lovely drawings and watercolors, and the text is hand written in calligraphy. The colors are wonderful, the rhyme is good, the detail is excellent, and Hannah is totally captivated by both books.

"1 is One" is, as you might imagine, a counting book, with each page bordered in a different type of flowering plant, and a detailed nature theme. My favorite page is for five: "5 is five eggs in a pretty round nest" with a painting of a robin perched on a nest filled with five eggs, surrounded by some flowers, pine, and fern. It's just lovely as are all the other pages.

"A is for Annabelle" is an alphabet book about the little girls' grandmother's doll. Each letter stands for one of the doll's accessories. If you have read "Hitty" (by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop) you will feel like this is about her, not Annabelle. If you haven't read "Hitty" I really wish you would, it's one of my favorites. Anyway, Annabelle is also hand lettered and quaintly worded ("I is for India whence came her shawl" "Z is for zither" and so forth) with sweet pictures. The illustrations are not as detailed as the ones in "1 is One" but it's a charming book nonetheless and your little girls may like it if they are into girly things and dolls and the like.

We're reading several different nursery rhyme and Mother Goose anthologies at the moment, and it's interesting to see how they differ. Hannah thinks "The Orchard Book of Nursery Rhymes" is "beautiful" and I agree. Zena Sutherland is the person who compiled the rhymes, and Faith Jacques illustrated them. The illustrations really are great, I think they are what makes this version one of my favorites. The selection of rhymes includes most of the standards, plus some lesser-known gems like "In a cottage in Fife." I'm glad to have found some good recommendations for these types of anthologies, but feel free to let me know if you have other favorites.


Another poetry book we're reading is A. A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young." These poems are so fun, and really capture the spirit of little children, in my opinion. Hannah likes them too, and enjoys looking at the pictures. We've just started "Winnie the Pooh" for a read-aloud book, so it's been fun to see Hannah make the connection between the Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh and the one in this book of poetry. I'd recommend this if you're looking for a way to throw some poetry into the mix with littles.


We finished "Stuart Little" last week, much to Hannah's chagrin. She keeps asking for more Stuart. And more Snowbell - she really liked the parts with Snowbell in them. I think Hannah responded really well to Stuart Little partly because of the line drawings in our version, and because the story lends itself to reading with great animation. I'm sure we'll revisit it again and again!

Hot Hands, Cold Feet

This is what I saw when I went to get Hannah up from her nap. "Yookit Mama! I got da mittens!" Hannah exclaimed. She then complained that her feet were cold. I wonder why?

Jack's First Tooth!

Jack's first tooth broke through today! It's the bottom middle right one. Hooray for Jack! Good work Buddy!

A Somewhat Snowy But Certainly Sunny Day

I got Hannah all bundled up and sent her out into the backyard with Bailey to play. Probably the whole marshmallow suit and boots and hat and all was overkill, but better safe than sorry, I always say! She had fun running around and looking through the fence at the geese on the pond, and only had to come in when I noticed she was digging in the garden and getting muddy.

Hey! How come she gets to be outside and I have to stay in here????

January Jack

Hey Mama!

Am I going to get fed here, or what?

Gee, Mama, I guess you haven't noticed how many handprints and lip prints Hannah and I have been putting on this sliding glass door lately...maybe you should clean it?

I love to stand up and look outside!

Fingerpainting 101

Today I broke out the fingerpaints we got Hannah as part of her birthday present. I know, I'm a terrible mom for not having her fingerpaint before now, I'm sorry. I grabbed one of Josh's undershirts and a pair of my old socks to use for her smock and stuck her in the bathtub with paper and the paints to contain the mess. It worked out pretty well, because once she was done I just washed off her hands in the tub and wiped up the paint. No mess, no stress!

Hmmm...which color should I use next?

This is the picture Hannah said was for Gigi. I asked her what it was and she said "It's fish. Sea fish." As opposed to...land fish?

Hannah said this one was for Daddy and when asked what it was she said "Fish, fish, fish, TUTTLE!" Tuttle is turtle, in case you didn't get that.

This one is for Grammy, and it was described as "butta-fye an' a bird an' a LALLO LALLO LALLO" (butta-fye is butterfly and lallo is yellow, which is our color of the week, so maybe that's where that emphasis came from, who knows.

Finally, here is the undershirt after Hannah had been wiping her hands all over it the whole time. It's almost a work of art in itself!

An Inside Walk

It was snowing today so we couldn't take a walk outside. Hannah asked that Jack be put in the wagon so she could take him for a walk inside. After some testing of the wagon to ensure it could hold Jack without tipping, I obliged her request. They had fun slowly going around from our bedroom to the playroom and back a few times before Hannah was tired of lugging her 20+ pound "little" brother around. Jack took it all in stride, because he is good natured and long-suffering like that.

The Kids' Week In Books 2008, No. 2

Poor Miss Spider is dejected because all of her attempts at hospitality are rebuffed by other bugs, who run away "in mortal dread" whenever she appears with her tea tray in hand. At last Miss Spider is able to help a dejected moth, who tells the other bugs that Miss Spider is all right. A lovely tea party ensues, at which Miss Spider bemuses her guests by eating the centerpiece, but all are relieved to see "she ate just flowers and drank just tea." "Miss Spider's Tea Party" by David Kirk is a fun book, much requested by our resident tea party afficionado, Miss Hannah.

I liked "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle when I was a child, so it seems the book stands the test of time (well, I'm not THAT old, but still). Hannah likes the pictures and enjoys counting the fruit the little caterpillar eats and putting her fingers through the holes the caterpillar makes.

"Stellaluna" is the story of a little fruit bat who gets separated from her mother and winds up living with a family of birds for a while, where she is not allowed to hang upside down and must eat yucky bugs. Eventually she is reunited with her bat family and tries to introduce her bird siblings to fruit batly activities like eating mangoes and flying at night. The main message is that although Stellaluna and her friends are different, they can still be friends.

Also Reading:
"My Very First Mother Goose" by Iona Opie (editor)
"The Golden Books Family Treasury of Poetry" by Louis Untermeyer (editor)
"Stuart Little" by E.B. White

Moo!

My aunt Catherine gave this cow costume to Hannah and we just tried it out for the first time today. Hannah LOVED it.

Here is the whole costume

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 1

Given that January in Indiana is pretty grey and dreary, I decided to post some fun rain and snow books for kids. "James and the Rain" by Karla Kuskin is a fabulous rhyming and counting book about animals in the rain. Parts of the rhyme recur throughout the book, which is fun for Hannah because she likes to recite things. The illustrations by Reg Cartwright are great and colorful. I love finding books I don't mind reading again and again!





"In the Rain With Baby Duck" by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton, is another fun rain book. Baby Duck doesn't like the rain on her feet, the rain on her face, or the mud, mud, mud. Her parents think she's being weird, but her grandfather remembers that Baby Duck's mama didn't like rain either and gives Baby an umbrella and boots to help her enjoy the weather.






"Tacky thePenguin" is a silly book about a misfit penguin with bad taste who saves his perfect penguin friends from mean wolves and bears. Hannah has fun pretending to be the wolves. I know she's being the wolves because she growls and shouts, "Rocks and locks! Get RICH RICH RICH!" Those are two lines from the book, although there are a lot of other lines around those two, so I'm not sure why she chose those as representative. It's pretty funny though.





I think the best things about Jan Brett's "The Mitten" are the wonderful illustrations. Each page has an inset picture of the little boy's mitten and the animals who find it, but the edges of the pages are decorated in Scandinavian style with other pictures and drawings of embroidery. I feel pretty inspired by the embroidery! Brett wrote a followup book called "The Hat" that we also have checked out of the library right now, but it's not as good, in my opinion. The copy of "The Mitten" we have is a board book, and was a gift from my aunt Fran. Thanks Fran!

Also Reading:
"My Very First Mother Goose" by Iona Opie (editor)
"The Golden Books Family Treasury of Poetry" by Louis Untermeyer (editor)
"Stuart Little" by E.B. White

A Little Preview

This afternoon I was reading to Hannah while Jack played with his dump truck (or so I thought). After I finished the book, Hannah got up to get another book, and walked in front of Jack, who had been sitting with his back to us. She giggled.

"Mama! Jack got a beard!"

"Someday maybe Jack will have a beard like Daddy, Hannah" I said, "but he's just a baby now and babies don't have beards even if they are boys."

To this Hannah responded with another chuckle and "Jack SOOOOO dirty, better cyean 'im up!"

Finally I got up to investigate. Evidently Hannah's black crayon had been in Jack's dump truck, and he had gummed it for a while, then smeared crayon goo all over his face, hands, shirt, socks, and the carpet. It did kind of look like a beard, huh?

Little Ballerina

Here is Hannah sporting her new tutu and ballet shoes ensemble. We checked a video out of the library called "Baby Ballet" that features a group of little girls at their ballet class. It goes through the basic steps and exercises you'd expect a beginning ballet class to cover. I'm letting Hannah watch it once or twice a week for her dance lesson. It's about 20 minutes long, if that. I'm learning a lot too by doing it with her and improving my flexibility! Hannah's favorite part is the jumping and the toe tapping.
Hannah thinks the 3 lb weights are for her. I hope she isn't going to injure herself. I use the 8 lb ones for toning, and I guess she's trying to imitate me!

The Belated Birthday

Hannah felt better today so we had her belated birthday celebration. I made her a chocolate cake. The secret ingredient was pureed beets. Bet you didn't see that coming! I used one of my favorite cake recipes, Chocolate Zucchini Cake, but used beets instead of zucchini. You couldn't taste the beets at all. It was just a tasty cake. The decoration is supposed to be a ballerina, in case you can't tell.
Hannah got lots of great presents, including a bunch of great books, art supplies, and My Little Ponies. She is getting to be a real pro at opening gifts!
In keeping with the ballet theme, I made her a tutu and we also gave her ballet shoes and pink tights. At the CVS after-Christmas sale I found the little shower puff around a hippo doll pictured above. I think it's useless as a shower thing, but it looks a lot like a hippo in a tutu. And for 30 cents, that's hard to beat!
Josh's mom came over to celebrate with us (his dad was too sick to attend, so we sent his piece of cake home to him) and read Hannah one of her new books. The jumper Hannah is wearing was a gift from my mom. I embroidered both of the pockets, which I think came out pretty well. A closeup of the embroidery is below.
Hannah seemed to really enjoy her birthday. Hopefully soon I can get a video of her announcing, "I'm TWO!" or doing her little ballet routine. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

More Christmas

Here is Thomas' girlfriend, True, with the kids. Hannah really likes her, and calls her "Miss True."

Not a Very Happy Birthday

Hannah turned two today, and marked the event by getting sick for the first time in her life. She spiked a high fever this morning, threw up, spent the day wanting to be cuddled and held, and went to bed early refusing to eat, and still with a fever so high she felt like she was burning up...it's so hard to see her sick! We decided to skip her birthday and celebrate tomorrow or whenever she feels better. Hopefully she'll sleep well tonight and wake up in the morning with a full recovery.

Happy Birthday anyway, Hannah!

Bathtime for Bonzos

The kids have fun in the bath together now that Jack can handle being in there without help (thanks to our bathtub having that textured floor). They laugh and splash and Hannah dumps her cup full of water all over Jack and tells him to "kick kick kick! Go swimmin' Jack!"

Jack is Seven Months Old!

It's hard to believe Jack is already seven months old! I know, I always say that, but this year really has flown by. Our little boy is such a sweet guy. He's very laid back and cuddly, and gives great hugs and big sloppy kisses. He makes concerted efforts to crawl, but so far has only managed it once or twice. He likes to figure out how things work, bang with blocks, and play with his dump truck. He is a precious gift!

Christmas 2008

I think this was the best Christmas I've ever had! It was so unbelievably fun to see the kids open presents and enjoy everything. Hannah seemed to get a lot out of the Jesse Tree this year, and didn't notice that we didn't have a regular Christmas tree. In fact, when we got to my parents' house, Hannah kept calling their Christmas tree a Jesse tree too.

My parents with the kids. Too bad Hannah was looking at ornaments instead of the camera!

Gigi showed Hannah how to work the German jumping boy ornament.

"I don't know what all this stuff is, but it sure looks promising!"

The stockings, hung by the chimney with care...

Hannah gives my brother, Thomas, a big hug

Thomas had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (the perils of being in the restaurant business) so he opened his presents early

Hannah got a purple My Little Pony. I ADORED My Little Pony as a kid, so I'm really psyched that they still have them now that I have a daughter to play with them. I wish I had saved all of my old ones but oh well.

Hannah opening her stocking

I got a fabulous new omelet pan!

Jack's huge wagon full of Mega Blocks

Thomas gave Hannah a book, which she promptly started "reading" to us

Jack really likes the shape sorter puzzle my aunt Fran gave him. This boy is really into blocks and trucks already!

Thomas' girlfriend True gave Hannah a sweet puppy and a bottle of baby wash and washcloth set. Hannah decided the baby wash was a bottle for the puppy, which was funny. Ever the diligent little mama, Hannah conscientiously takes the puppy to the toilet and puts him down for regular naps.

The big event: Hannah's awesome tricycle from Gigi and Grandad! This has got to be the coolest trike around.

The kiddos enjoy their stuffed animals from True.

Thomas gave Hannah a neat bubble maker machine, and Grandad taught her how to use it.

First trike ride outdoors

Isn't he a sweet boy?!