One of My Favorite Things...

One of my favorite things as a parent is to come around a corner in my home and see something like this:

Finding Mia "reading" books all by herself has been occurring more and more frequently and it makes me oh-so-very happy. 

In other news, please excuse my neglect of this blog. We are moving to a new home in a couple of weeks and I'm trying to focus on packing. Right now, we are reading a lot of picture books about moving. Do you have any favorites on this subject? 

Author Spotlight : Oliver Jeffers

One of our favorite picture book authors is Oliver Jeffers. If you haven't read any of his books, look for them at your local library or bookstore immediately! 

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Of all of his books, Lost and Found and its sequal, Up and Down, are my favorites. They are two of my favorite picture books of all-time. After those two, I think I like The Great Paper Caper best. 

I Spy with My Little Eye...

Mia loves picture books with little hidden details/objects in them. We just discovered Guido Van Genechten's "Odd One Out" series of playful look-and-find books. The books are designed to entertain preschoolers while developing language skills. The books use illustrations with some animals that look or act different than the others, or "odd ones out", to teach early learning concepts like positions and opposites.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Marc Boutavant 

One of my favorite author/illustrators is Marc Boutavant. Currently, we have three of his books checked out from the library, and all the others (that the library owns) on hold for us. :) 

His illustrations have a whimsical, retro feel to them that I love. 

Childhood Favorites

I love sharing books that I loved as a child with my own child. A recent example are the Little Miss and Mr. Men books. I liked these when i was much older than Mia (she's only 3, while I remember liking them when I was old enough to read them myself), but she loves them! We've been checking out  bunches each time we visit the library...and I think we will need to buy the whole set. 

They're such silly little "fluff" books...they don't have the greatest plots OR illustrations, but Mia likes them and so did I (and my younger sister...as well as other adults who also grew up in the 1980's)...so that's all that matters. 

It's so important for reading to be FUN for kids. Parents shouldn't force them to read what they want or think are better books all of the time. 

What are some of your childhood favorites? 

Books for Easter Baskets

The Easter Bunny is bringing Mia two new books in her Easter basket this year:

Bunny My Honey by Anita Jeram and Sweet Dreams Lullaby by Betsy E. Snyder. Neither are books about the Easter holiday, but I like them better that way. If they are only about bunnies (or just happen to have bunnies featured prominently in them ;)) then the books are readable at any time of the year...not just Easter and Springtime. 

Some other great last-minute additions to Easter baskets would be: 

Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson 

Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes 

This Little Chick by John Lawrence 

Spring is Here by Taro Gomi 

Little Lamb (Mini Look at Me Books) by L. Rigo

I Am a Bunny by Ole Risom 

Gossie and Gertie by Olivier Dunrea 

The Fuzzy Duckling by Jane Werner Watson 

Duck and Goose by Tad Hills 

Cheep! Cheep! by Julie Stiegemeyer

A Little Reading Spot...

Last week I convinced my husband to dismantle Mia's crib so we could make some changes to her bedroom. She turned 3 last month. She doesn't sleep in her crib. She never really has. She hasn't even napped in it for about a year (she only naps about twice a month these days). Mia and I cosleep. She still wakes up several times a night and needs to nurse for a few seconds before she can fall back asleep...so, it's definitely easiest for me to sleep with her. I like cosleeping. I know it won't last forever...and sometimes I wish she slept in her own bed, just so she could have a cute bed in her own bedroom...and I do miss sleeping with my husband (who is a crazy/noisy sleeper and sleeps in another bedroom, poor guy)...but for the most part, I love the way things are. 

Anyway...for the last year or so, Mia's crib has been used as a fun little playpen, a trampoline, storage, and a bed for the cat. My husband, Scott, and I had discussed moving the crib before, and decided we'd leave it for a while. A few months later, I realized that Mia wasn't really playing in it that much, so I wanted it out of the room. 

We left the crib mattress on the floor where the crib had been, just in case Mia started to freak out once the crib was gone (which she only did briefly after seeing her crib in pieces), and I think it was a great idea. 

I doubt she will ever sleep on it, though. Every night at bedtime, I lie down with her on my bed (we have a queen mattress and a twin mattress pushed together and on the floor) until she's asleep. We will be moving in a few months, and then I plan on doing this same thing every night, but in MIA's new bedroom. That way she'll get used to sleeping in her own room. 

Until then, now Mia has a tiny bed in her own bedroom that she can sleep on anytime she wants...but can also use it for other things...like a reading spot. It's the third one in her room! There is also a chair and a beanbag. I know people say you can never have too many reading spots...but it's not that big of a room! I'm thinking I might move the chair into our living room.