The RAHK Report for 12/22/17

Family Read-Alouds

After finishing A Bear Called Paddington, we haven't picked up another chapter book yet. Instead, we've been reading Christmas books. This week, it was The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden (which only Miss Muffet really listened to, as it took us several days to get through and Bo Peep doesn't have patience for that just yet) and The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot. The Herriot book was also pretty long for a two-year-old, but Bo Peep likes animals so she mostly paid attention. An animal dies in the story, which I thought might bother Miss Muffet, but instead, she simply asked if the cat in the final illustration of the book was alive or dead. The way her mind works never ceases to amaze me. We also read Christmas by Barbara Cooney to help Miss Muffet understand the origins of various Christmas customs.

Little Miss Muffet (4 years)

 

On her own, Miss Muffet has been reading more Oliver and Amanda Pig books: Oliver and Amanda's Christmas, Amanda Pig On Her Own, and Oliver and Amanda and the Big Snow. She's also read a bunch of other easy readers, including Aunt Eater's Mystery Christmas and Bony-Legs.

With me, this week she has read The Twenty Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle, which appealed to her mainly because the family in the story is waiting for the birth of a new sibling, and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, which she loved because it's by Russell and Lillian Hoban . We also re-read a favorite we discovered last year, Christmas Farm by Mary Lyn Ray and Barry Root. It was every bit as good as I remembered, and Miss Muffet seemed to like it even more this year.

Little Bo Peep (2 years, 2 months)

We borrowed a big stack of picture books from the library last weekend, but so far Little Bo Peep only has eyes for The Giant Jumperee. She likes to make believe about giants as it is, and this book just ramped up her interest. We have read it at least ten times already and we still have the book for two more weeks.

She also continues to be drawn to singable Christmas picture books. The Friendly Beasts by Tomie dePaola is on loan from the library, and I also brought out our copy of The Huron Carol illustrated by Ian Wallace. I didn't know either of these carols too well, but have now learned them practically by heart. When we run out of anything else to sing, we just open Take Joy! by Tasha Tudor and sing the carols in there.

Little Jumping Joan (2 months)

Jumping Joan is a frequent passive observer during lunch-time read-alouds and Christmas sing-alongs, but I also like to carve out a little reading time just for her as well. A couple nights ago, I read her Moonlight by Helen V. Griffith and Laura Dronzek and If All the Seas Were One Sea by Janina Domanska while she had some tummy time on the floor. Not long afterward, she rolled over for the first time! I figure I'd better read to her as much as possible now while she's still a captive audience. A few months from now, she'll be just as busy as her older sister!