The Berenstain Bears

Greyson has discovered the Berenstain Bears and frankly I'm pretty excited about it. I remember the books from my childhood and so does Michael, it's fun now sharing them with Greyson.

I love that he enjoys listening to the stories so much. He always gets excited when we say it is time to read books!

Mothering

Greyson and I love to read Mothering Magazine!

(Great) Aunt Gail sends me a subscription to Mothering, and has for several years. I have to say that hands down it is my favorite magazine. It's so nice to read a parenting magazine that focuses on parenting, rather then the latest, expensive baby accessory. Mothering also reminds me that I am not a weird parent - that there are others like me out there. Moms who are breastfeeding toddlers, who give their kids wooden blocks and paper towel tubes to play with, who wear their kids instead of pushing strollers and who wash cloth diapers.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to parent* (as long as the children are being well taken care of that is). I certainly won't claim that my way is better, but it is nice to know that I'm not the only one who is doing it this way.

And speaking of - today I made of batch of cloth wipes. I tried cloth wipes for Greyson awhile ago, but it just didn't work out. I never got the wipe solution right, I didn't really like our wipes - really I wasn't ready to add anything else to my laundry routine. But times have changed. I just made 15, 6 x 6, terry and flannel wipes. They are made from an old terry cloth baby towel that we have NEVER used, along with 2 old flannel receiving blankets that shrunk too much to use as a blanket. I just cut them up with the wrong sides together and I overcast the edges. Easy, great consistency and I think we will really use them. I bought a box of Huggies wipes and the container is perfect for my cloth wipes, it has a wide opening that is soft, so the thicker cloth wipes can come out easily. I even folded them so they pop out. And this time my wipe solution is 2 cups water with a dash of Dr. Bonner's liquid baby soap. It smells great. I'm thinking about making another 15 with the other baby towel in the drawer.



*I really believe that every parent does what works for them and that differs from mom to mom and baby to baby. My mom calls it "Survival Parenting". You do what it takes to get through the day with your kids safe and you relatively sane. Whatever works for you and your family is the "right" way.

Summer Reading 2010

We are a house of readers. Greyson signs for "book" now which I think is great. We sit on the twin bed and read before he goes to bed at night and often before naps. Michael is great at voices, I'm always surprised at how many different voices he can make during story time.

Greyson picks what book he wants read by thrusting it into our faces. He has some favorites and a few he claps for when we reach the end. It is amazing to me how well he listens and pay attention. It's not unusual for us to read for 20 to 30 min at a time. This from a kid who won't sit still and watch a video for 5 min unless strapped into his carseat during a roadtrip! But story time is different. I don't know if it's because he's reading with us, or if he just likes books better than TV.

Today Greyson and I headed to our local library and picked out new books for the week. I love our library. The children's section has blocks he can play with, chairs that are just his size, big foam shapes he can crawl on and a "hideout" that Greyson loves to climb in. He runs around and plays while I find books or just sit back and watch him have fun.

We also signed Greyson up for the summer reading program. The goal is to read 12 hours over the summer and every 3 hours he'll get a prize! At the rate we read, he'll have that done by July.

Book Review: Two at the Zoo

Two at the Zoo
Written by Danna Smith
Illustrated by Valeria Petrone

Two at the Zoo was our favorite book to read this week. We read it at least 3 times every time we sat down to read this week. I loved the easy to read-out-loud rhymes, the style of the illustration was fun and that it featured a Grandpa and Grandson, which I thought was a nice twist.

My favorite passage was "Hello spiders in your crate. Very Scary... We count 8.", while Greyson always broke out into a huge grin when we reached the end with "Good-bye choo-choo on your track. See you later, we'll be back!".

Here's a blurb from the author's website (www.dannasmithbooks.com) :

Counting is always more fun when Grandpa helps! From one black bear to ten hairy warthogs, the young narrator and his grandpa count their way through a colorful and sometimes unusual zoo, encountering a wide assortment of friendly animals along the way. There are lions, zebras, and penguins, of course, but also chameleons and eagles...and even tarantulas! Playful, bright illustrations put the youthful grandfather and grandson's loving relationship on proud display, while an upbeat, rhymed text full of sparkling verb sounds invites even the youngest readers and listeners to participate.

This was a fun book and I suspect we'll be doing some counting on our next trip to the zoo.