Reading with Little Miss Muffet and Little Bo Peep, January 2017

The new year is off to a great start reading-wise for the Fitzgeralds. Here are this month's highlights:

• Little Bo Peep is just turning 16 months and she has finally started to realize that she can't really get much out of a book if a grownup doesn't read to her now and then. She has begun to tolerate read-alouds and even to request them on occasion. I have been trying to establish a daily habit of reading to her without her sister present every day before nap time, and she seems to enjoy that little window of time. I usually choose two books, but she has made it clear that she would prefer to hear the same book twice rather than listen to two different stories. Recent favorites that have required multiple re-readings were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle, You... by Emma Dodd, Little Bitty Friends by Elizabeth McPike and Patrice Barton, and Ten Little Toes, Two Small Feet by Kristi Dempsey, 

• Bo Peep has also fallen in love with two wonderful board books we received for review from Little Bee Books. Hello, Lamb and Goodnight, Bear are both by Jane Cabrera, and they could not be  more perfect for a one-year-old. In both books, each page shows a large face of an animal on the right-hand side and simple text identifying the animal and the sound it makes on the left-hand side. Hello, Lamb begins with a sun and ends with a smiling baby, while Goodnight Bear opens with the moon and ends with a baby who has fallen asleep. Bo Peep will sit and look at these books over and over again. Miss Muffet also likes them, and since she knows her animals and the sounds they make, she can basically "read" the books to her sister. If my story time groups continue to skew toward the under-three demographic - and honestly, even if they don't - I will probably bring both books to story time before too long. They are must-buys for babies and toddlers in my opinion.

• Miss Muffet continues to be completely obsessed with books. Her favorites lately have been Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy, as well as the Maple and Willow series, and my childhood copy of the Fisher-Price Little People book, The Great Big Word Book, but she is not attached to any one book that needs to be read over and over again. We continue to use nonfiction to reinforce new concepts. Recently, after we spotted a deer amongst the trees on a stroller walk, we read I See Animals Hiding and discussed the concept of camouflage. As she gets into the habit of saying the Pledge of Allegiance daily, we have also enjoyed an ebook of Our Flag, a Golden Book from 1960 that explains the flag's significance and history. She is also really enjoying paging through The Catholic Children's Bible looking for figures she remembers from our Jesse Tree readings during Advent. She has a special affinity for the prophet Jeremiah and likes to point out that he is crying in the illustration which accompanies his story.
• Finally, both girls are making strides in their writing skills. Miss Muffet is using a pencil regularly, and she is gaining more and more control over the marks she makes. We have made a mailbox from a shoebox and she enjoys passing notes back and forth with Daddy. In the meantime, Bo Peep received two coloring books designed especially for babies for Christmas, and she has finally started making marks on the pages. It will be nice in the coming months for them to sit and color together. Even if their skills will not be on the same level, I think they will both enjoy being able to share in an activity.