Thanks for the Positive Reinforcement

I've gotten a couple of nice emails this week and a few thoughtful comments. I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of the readers that take the time to say something. I really enjoy hearing from you. I read every email and comment and make the time to reply. It encourages me to keep working on this website and lets me know that people are out there who enjoy reading the posts and find useful information here. So, thank you!

Favorite Children's Picture Books

I love reading with my children and I love children's books. I loved them as a child. I loved them as a teacher and Speech-Language Pathologist. And I love them as a parent. I will read to my children whenever they ask. At minimum we read before nap and bedtime. I wanted to share a couple of my favorite children's series and authors with you.

Iza Trapani

Iza Trapani takes classic nursery rhymes and adds extra verses to make the rhyme into a story. The Itsy Bitsy Spider tries to climb several things in addition to the water spout before finally succeeding in spinning her web. A family of bears is taking a boat trip down the river in Row, Row, Row Your Boat. In How Much is that Doggie in the Window a boy tries to earn the money to buy himself the dog he admires in the pet store window. In I'm a Little Teapot the teapot takes some children on an imaginary journey around the world. These are just a few of Iza Trapani's books. Her books are often available in both board book and paperback. I personally prefer the size and durability of the board books for reading with a young child in my lap. These books have a lot of longevity too. I've been reading them to Michael since he was a baby. When he was a baby he just liked the songs. When he was a toddler he still enjoyed the songs and he also loved the pictures and paid some attention to the stories. Now, approaching 3 1/2, he's noticing all of the details (and there are many) in the pictures and loves the extra verses in the stories. The books have grown with him. It's hard to choose, but these are our favorites:

I'm a Little Teapot
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
How Much is That Doggie in the Window?
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Baa Baa Black Sheep

Karma Wilson

Karma Wilson has written a lot of children's books, but we love two series in particular. The first is for younger children and are board books. We've only read two of the series although there are at least four. It is a series about a kitten named Calico. The books have a wonderful rhythm and the adventures of the mischievous kitten really appeal to the kids. The second series is about a bear and his group of forest friends and is a really wonderful series of books. We have all of them and they are great. They are fun to read, the illustrations are wonderful and the stories are sweet. They appeal to both my toddler and my preschooler. I'm going to list both Calico books and our four favorites out of the six Bear books currently available.

 

Hello, Calico!
Uh-oh, Calico!
Bear Feels Scared
Bear Feels Sick
Bear's New Friend
Bear Stays Up

I'm going to stop there for now. I'll do more another time. Do any of you have favorite children's picture books you'd like to share?

Better Late than Never

Ava had her second playdate with Sara yesterday morning. Illnesses, a variety of other commitments, and some travel conspired to disrupt every attempt we made at setting up a second playdate. It took us two months, but we finally managed to get together again.

The weather was perfect. It was about 70 degrees and sunny. We spent about an hour playing in the backyard. Sara was shy at first, but then realized that we had fun things like chalk and bubbles and squirt bottles. They played in the sand table, climbed in the playhouse, and went down the slide. The girls are still at an age where they mostly just play in the same space rather than really playing together. They were usually doing the same things though, and it was nice to see the two small bodies side by side playing together.

If we can manage to get together regularly it will look so different a year from now. Michael and his friend are now talking to each other and I can hear sounds of preschool conversation drifting towards me from a bedroom or playroom when they get together. I hope that I will hear that from Ava and Sara in time.