Reading Books Before Naptime

We like to pile in KA's bed and read books before naptime!

Wordless Wednesday

Highlights!

 

My parents got Katie Anne a subscription to that childhood classic - Highlights Magazine!  This is actually a subscription for the early childhood version of Highlights called High Five - it's a magazine made just for preschoolers.  We just received our first two issues, and Katie Anne absolutely loves them.  We enjoyed reading through the magazines together in the evenings earlier this week - the magazine has short stories, puzzles, rhymes and fingerplays - and Katie's Anne's favorite part - a little game to do!  We love "Turtle's Birthday Party" and have played it several times.  The game calls for it to be played a little like Go Fish - you're trying to match an animal with the three things he/she needs for the birthday party (a candle, a gift, and a party hat).  Instead, we modified it a little bit and just used it as a sorting game, and it was a lot of fun!

Green Eggs and Ham

To celebrate Dr. Seuss's actual birthday tonight, Katie Anne and I thought we'd make a delicious dinner of green eggs and ham!  I cooked a small ham for us, and then I scrambled 6 eggs.  Katie Anne got to do the fun part - coloring them green!  She was very excited for her part of the project.

Ready to color her steamy bowl of eggs

 

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze!

Stirring time!

 

It's working!

A little more mixing...

All done - ready to eat!

Our yummy supper - bright green eggs, ham, hashbrowns, and fruit

The little Cat in the Hat loved her dinner!  She had three helpings of eggs!

The Cat in the Hat

This week is Read Across America Week in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2.  You may remember that we did several projects last year that were lots of fun.  This year, I didn't feel up to tons of projects in the evening, but I wanted to do some fun things to celebrate.  So, we kicked off the week by focusing on The Cat in the Hat and making our hats.

Katie Anne studies the book to get it just right

 

Working hard

She LOVES the stamp-ish paint brushes from Lakeshore

 

Painting our bow ties

Drying until tomorrow!

Reading

This movie contains: one child reading, one dog being loved, and one mother telling a little white lie.


This book is still one of Katie Anne's favorites to read out loud! This morning, she was reading it to me and Ginger. I love the way she tries to read with it facing her audience just like a little teacher.

Green Hat, Blue Hat

Yesterday morning, while taking our first potty trip of the day, Katie Anne wanted to read a new book. I grabbed one of Saunders's old board books from when he was little that VJ had given us - Green Hat, Blue Hat by Sandra Boynton. We'd never read this book before, but Katie Anne loved its predictable pattern... the animals all put on clothes correctly except for the turkey, who always puts them on backwards (and says "Oops."). She said she was going to read it to me... she did such a good job remembering it after only hearing it once that I ran for the camera and made her start over! She doesn't get it 100% right, but she did a super job after only hearing it one time. So, here's the first video of her "reading" a book. :)

Welcome to Toddler Town, Toddler Town, Toddler Town...

Welcome to Toddler Town... population: 1 toddler, 2 adults. The current most popular attraction in Toddler Town is repetition, repetition, repetition. Is your favorite word "again"? Do you love doing the same activity over and over and over? Do you like putting together "the big puzzle" 5+ times per night, or listening to Mary Had a Little Lamb about 100 times in a row, or watching the Baby UGA dvd on repeat? If so, Toddler Town is the place for you.

The current hot new activity in Toddler Town is repetitive reading, repetitive reading, repetitive reading, repetitive reading. Our current favorite book? Little Quack's New Friend. A very cute, very sweet story... and luckily, a very lightweight story, because I've read Little Quack's New Friend at least twice per night for the last five nights at bedtime. Prior to that, it was Daddy's turn... we read "Max" (aka Where the Wild Things Are) on repeat for the week before the Little Quack debut. It's funny that she has one book for one parent- I could NOT read Where the Wild Things Are, and there's no way Daddy's getting his hands on Little Quack.

The Safest Time of Day for Us...

That's it... I officially wish I was a vampire.

I had heard of Twilight... I knew Jillian was reading the series when I saw one of the books in her car once. I'd seen some other people mention it on their blogs in the past. I'd read an article about how the relationship between Edward and Bella is a metaphor for Stephenie Meyer's opinions on abstinence.

I didn't plan on reading it, though. I just am not really into vampires... not for any particular reasons, just not really interested. Also, being as it was a young adult novel series, I didn't think it would be that good.

Then, lots of people started talking about it, like all in the same week. A friend at work became obsessed with it, then Jillian mentioned it again, then Stacey said it was causing fights in her house because she was reading it all the time, then Carrie Beth blogged about her passion for it, and then - to top it off - it was suggested as our January Book Club choice!

So, I ordered it using my credit card reward points, and it came on Wednesday. It came to my parents' house, and they brought it to me about 6:30 pm. I was sewing, so I ignored it. I didn't really think it would be that interesting since vampires just aren't my thing.

So, I laid down to read just a little bit before bed at 9:00 pm.

Saunders had to MAKE me turn out the light at 11:00 pm.

I read while I blow dried my hair on Thursday morning, while I brushed my teeth, read during my planning period, and I even skipped lunch to read in my classroom at school.

This book, including the preview for the next book, is about
520 pages.

How long did it take me to finish it?

Including sleeping, teaching, and a little family time on Thursday evening when I wasn't reading...
Wednesday @ 9:00 pm - Thursday @ 10:17 pm
25 hours, 17 minutes.

Estimated actual reading time during that 25 hours?
I figured about 8 hours.

So, you're wondering- it is good? Oh yeah, it's that good. It is one of those books that makes you want to skip ahead because you've got to know what happens, but then you don't want to miss one sentence of what's happening, so you're torn!

I do like vampires.

I think it was so cruel to include the preview of the next book, though. I was so filled with anguish when I had to stop without knowing what happened next, and it was IMPOSSIBLE to go to sleep after reading that cliff hanger moment! It reminded me of those horrible feelings of waiting for the next Harry Potter after you'd read the teaser chapter. I finally stopped reading the teaser chapters because I just couldn't handle the year of waiting.

Thank goodness I waited to read this series
until all the books were out!

Tomorrow, the hunt begins for the next three books...

Independent Reading

Katie Anne still loves us to read books to her, but lately she's really into "independent reading". She will bring a book to you, give it to you to read, go get her own book, sit beside you, and read it.

Sometimes she "reads" aloud, sometimes she reads silently to herself... but you are NEVER to read aloud when you are independent reading with Katie Anne- that is the ultimate in insulting to her, and it results in your book getting taken away and "Put Back!" Also, you must never close your book until she's done reading hers... you must keep flipping through pages, or else she will have to get up and help you open your book again in a very exasperated way. What a strict teacher she is! :) She also likes to independently read magazines while I read one... now I can get through a few pages of my latest People!

She will sit and independent read next to someone for a long time... five minutes at least, which is a long time in the world of a seventeen-month-old. It is very funny to us and cracks us up every time, but of course we don't let on to her that we find it funny because this is very serious to her. Here are some pictures of her reading with her daddy tonight.

Katie Anne reads Panda Bear, Panda Bear while Daddy
gets to enjoy Polar Bear, Polar Bear.

See? This ain't no joke, people.
This is READING.

Katie Anne reads about the animals for us.

Katie Anne points out important stuff for
us to take note of and remember.

Here, she's making the
"ssssss" sound for the snake.

Here, she's telling me this is a "ze-baa".

All that reading makes a girl thirsty...

And tired. Just flipping back for a little mid-book rest...

Oh, no! Daddy tickle attack!

** And are you wondering about Katie Anne's fashion choices? She's a toddler trendsetter... this look consists of one diaper (from a cheap generic box bought in an emergency moment that I'll be SO glad to see the last of) and a pair of her daddy's old athletic socks. She thinks the thigh-high legwarmer look is making a comeback this winter, and she wants credit for being the first to rock the look.