I didn’t intend to share children’s books two weeks in a row, but this post is too cute not to share.

One of my favorite parts of the day is listening to (sometimes paparazzi-stalking through the monitor) Hubby reading bedtime stories to Munchkin.  Our unofficial routine is for Hubby to handle bath and story time before I take over for the end of Munchkin’s bedtime routine.  I love that they get that one-on-one time at the end of the day.  (Munchkin much prefers Daddy for bath and story time; he’d play for hours if he could, but if I’m ever in charge, he just wants to rush through and get to bed.  Funny kid!)

Sometimes on the weekends, we’ll do family bath or story time.  This past weekend, we had Mémé and Far Far up for dinner.  We were a little later starting bedtime, so we decided to skip bath and have an abbreviated story time.  Usually, Hubby will read practically all of Munchkin’s books, but that night we opted for a “top four.”  These are the books Hubby chose.  😉

1. Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop

This book was gifted to us when Munchkin was first born.  It was a quick favorite and another one that was quickly committed to memory.  I would often go through the motions of the entire book, but even before Munchkin could clap his hands together, he would get excited about the last page.

Hubby’s Favorite Part:  When we read “Big hug now,” Munchkin gets a huge smile on his face and runs over for a hug.  It’s adorable!

2.  Barnyard Dance

Another Boynton favorite, this was actually part of Munchkin’s first Valentine’s Day gift.  We already had a couple of Boynton’s books and Munchkin seemed to enjoy books about animals, so this seemed to be a good pick.  He often claps and stamps at the beginning, but for some reason, he started adding his own motion to the end.

Hubby’s Favorite Part:  When we read “we’ll be back,” Munchkin waves and says, “Bye Bye.”  This was the first time I had seen him do this (I think it had been awhile since I’d read that book to him), and my heart melted a little.

3.  On the Night You Were Born

When my sister was pregnant with my niece, the teachers at the school where she taught threw her a book shower.  The media specialist did a reading of this book.  I hadn’t heard it before, but I instantly loved it.  I knew I wanted to give it to Munchkin for his first birthday since we didn’t have it, yet.  It quickly became one of Hubby’s favorites.  (Hubby liked it so much that we picked out another Nancy Tillman book for part of Munchkin’s Christmas gift).  This one is now on the nightly wind-down rotation (along with number four)!

Hubby’s Favorite Part: it’s such a sweet way to tell Munchkin how special he is.

4.  Who Loves Colton

Ah, Pinterest!  You get me every time with your great ideas and homemade gifts.  I first saw pins for personalized board books before Munchkin was even born.  For his first Christmas, when he was 3 months old, we knew he didn’t need a lot of gifts.  We decided this would be a perfect gift, and we decided to write a story about all of his family members.  We came up with a rhyming verse, and picked out pictures of our family.  It is definitely well loved, but Pint Size Productions did a great job with a quality product.

Hubby’s Favorite Part: The whole thing!  This is always the last book Hubby reads to Munchkin.

Happy Reading!

Let’s be honest: I’d like to say that I get through at least a chapter of “fun” reading every night, but the reality is that most pages I’m turning these days are made of cardboard.  It’s safe to say that Munchkin, so far, has inherited my love for books.  And, I love finding new titles to share with him just about as much as he enjoys hearing them.

Any parent knows that there are certain favorites among the *many* book baskets.  Munchkin has lots of favorites, and they tend to rotate week by week.  But, today, I wanted to share with you his first go-to.  I was unfamiliar with Sandra Boynton before having Munchkin, but she is definitely a standard when it comes to baby books.  All of her titles have catchy rhymes and a degree of humor that assures they are remembered.

We received Moo, Baa, La La La as a gift just after Munchkin was born.  I began reading it to him right away, and I soon had it memorized.  (I believe all of my memory space is now used to house children’s books!)  Anytime Munchkin was upset, I could recite this book, and he would immediately calm down.  If he was tired or hungry, all I had to utter was “A cow says,” and he would quiet down to listen.  Magic.  We still love this book, and I have a feeling that as he begins to use more words of his own, we’ll be able to expand it into interactive story time very easily.  If you’re not familiar with Boynton, please check out this book!

Moo, Baa, La La La

Happy Reading!

As Munchkin is quickly growing and now closer to age 2 than 1, I find myself getting caught up in the mom bubble:  that scary place where I constantly compare myself to other moms and Munchkin to other kiddos.  It’s an exhausting place!  We live in a great neighborhood – one full of lots of young families with plenty of kids around Munchkin’s age.  But, with all of these park dates and play groups come the unavoidable comparisons in child development and, more importantly, child activities.

When Munchkin was born, I cannot tell you how many people commented on how lucky his birth date was in terms of the public school cut off date in Georgia.  I have not studied extensively in childhood education, but I keep coming across articles discussing boys slower development in comparison to girls.  Also, I have heard numerous times from “boy parents” how they wish they had held their sons back early in their education.  So, I’ve been of the mindset that I’m not in a huge rush to start Munchkin in any formal education program.  But, that was before I entered the mom bubble.

Starting probably around the time Munchkin turned 6 months, I began to get questions about Munchkin’s activity schedule.  While we are on the go a lot and are busy everyday, some days I do find myself wondering exactly WHAT we did to keep ourselves busy and have the day go by so quickly.  (Then, I look at our living room floor covered in toys, and I don’t have to wonder anymore 😉 )  The more I debated about activities and school programs, the more I realized how much Munchkin learns every day just by living and playing.  For now, I’ve decided that there will plenty of school days and performance tests in his future.  Right now, I just want to enjoy him learning about his world in a more informal setting.  I did decide to stay home with him for a reason, so I may as well soak up every minute before he grows up too quickly!

In all of the talk about activities and preschools with neighborhood moms, I kept hearing about the different options around us.  Most of the preschools around are more “play” focused, which I think is great.  One in particular is well known for its Montessori foundation, even going so far as sending its teachers to Italy for training.  For all I know, this is just a rumor going through mom circles, but I did become even more curious about this method.  I’ve heard a little about it from my mom here and there, but I wasn’t really familiar with the basics.  So, I decided to look into it to see if there was anything worth incorporating into our day-to-day routine.

I started my Montessori education with The Essential Montessori.  From the reviews, I gathered it to be a good starting point.  It did not disappoint.  Hainstock did a great job of summarizing Maria Montessori’s work and ideas.  This book does not give a lot of specific guidelines on how to incorporate the method into school or home life, but rather a good overview of why one would want to.  Along with the evolution of the method, Hainstock also includes a whole section of Montessori’s own writing, translated from Italian.  Unfortunately, Montessori is extremely verbose in her descriptions, and I found it difficult to get through.  I probably read the first part of the book in a day, but then I spent the rest of the week making my way through that one section.  Still, I’m excited to see how her methodology transfers to implementation.  I have a couple more Montessori books checked out from the library, and I can’t wait to crack them open.  If you’re at all curious about this education philosophy, I would highly recommend this book as an introduction.

The Essential Montessori

Happy Reading!

I have a confession to make.  I LOVE “chick lit.”  I know, I know.  You’re probably wondering how I could waste my time on such superficial content, but I much prefer a good beach read, which is another way I like to classify my quick-read books, over just about any reality TV show currently airing.  (I also love a good chick flick 😉 )  I always like to end my day with a chapter or two.  Hubby and I usually enjoy a show after Munchkin goes to bed, and then I’m ready to get in bed myself.  I’m sure my whole going-to-bed routine is awfully confusing to Hubby.  After confirming that we’re both ready to call it a night, he shuffles to the bedroom, slips under the covers and is usually out for the count in about five minutes.  I, on the other hand, get a glass of water on the way from the couch to the bed and go through my bathroom routine of washing my face, brushing my teeth, and taking my contacts out.  Then, I snuggle under the covers and open a good book.  

I have another confession to make.  I may be SLIGHTLY obsessed with Emily Giffin.  I read her first novel, Something Borrowed, years ago.  I remember my mom actually started reading it first and couldn’t get past the first chapter due to the premise of the entire novel.  I wondered what in the world could make my mom, who probably devours a book a night, put one down without finishing it, so I checked it out.  I ended up really enjoying the novel and told my mom she should give it another go.  But, I stopped there.  I meant to pick up another one of Giffin’s books, but somehow they kept getting pushed to the bottom of my list.

Until. . . 

I was out for a dear friend’s bachelorette party in Atlanta.  One of HER friends is a huge Giffin fan and follows her on Facebook.  Turns out Giffin is an Atlanta resident!  Giffin posted a status update that day stating that she had plans to be at the very same restaurant where we would celebrating.  On a whim, this friend-of-my-friend commented about our festivities.  Long story short, she ended up taking a picture with the bachelorette group.  So cool!

I very quickly liked her Facebook page and decided to make my way through her novels – FINALLY!  And, the more I read her status updates, the more I became a fan.  While she moves in very different circles than I do in Atlanta, she seems so “real.”  I mean, I did meet her for about five minutes, so I can say that, right?  But, really, she has chickens, y’all.  In her backyard.  In Buckhead.  (Hubby and I joke about raising chickens in our backyard, but I’m afraid our fur baby would never allow that.)  She also shares a lot of her writing experience, which is fascinating to read.  Check out her page!

I started out by reading Something Borrowed again and have since been reading in chronological written order.  I just finished reading her fourth book:  Heart of the Matter.  I’ll be honest: this wasn’t my favorite Giffin novel.  While I was just a tad disappointed that the main theme of the book was another incident of infidelity (and even more disappointed in myself for actually rooting for “the other woman”), I still couldn’t put it down.  I did find myself identifying with the main character, Tess.  She’s my age. (GASP! Does anyone still watch Friends thinking that the characters are a good 10+ years older and then get really discouraged after realizing that they are the SAME AGE?  I feel the same way about book characters, no matter how old they are!)  She recently quit her job to stay home with her kids.  She is surrounded by neighborhood moms to whom she is constantly comparing herself.  I think this personal identification led me to like this particular novel more than I would have.  I also enjoyed how Giffin alternated chapters between the two main female characters, although I found it a little distracting that one character was shown through first person and the other third person view point.  It was an enjoyable, quick read, but I wouldn’t put it on my repeat list.