Little Loves - July

It's actually quite difficult to think of which book BookBairn has enjoyed reading the most this month because she has enjoyed reading lots and lots of different books. It feels like every bedtime and quiet time we have read a different story and I love that! Whilst I know that repetition is great for kids reading and understanding, I love that she is reading more widely! One of our favourite recent reads is '100 Dogs' by Michael Whaite which is a brilliant rhyming story that shares 100 dogs each getting up to different things. It's laugh out loud funny!

We haven't been watching as much television recently as I've been trying to cut down on screen time a little. I felt the kids were watching too much and I was relying on screen time to get some peace and quiet and get stuff done too much and that they kids weren't learning to and enjoying playing with their toys imaginatively. So we have cut back but obviously we've not cut it out completely! One of the things I have done, which seems to mesmerise the kids is make up a playlist of disney songs and clips on YouTube and then I screencast/chromecast (or some similar technological term) it on to the TV. That way I know exactly what they are watching but they get to watch their favourite songs without shouting on me every three minutes to play another one. It's my favourite parenting hack!

Since I dislocated my shoulder I have been very wary of not lifting too much and overdoing it as I'm paranoid about dislocating it again. But this week I put all 14kg of The Wee Page Turner in our baby carrier and wore him on a walk in the village where I spent lots of happy childhood summers. Part of the reason we live where we do is because it is less than half an hours drive from this little patch of heaven on earth and I love it. I walked with him out to the lighthouse and to an old ruin along the coastal path and then through the village and along the beach to the beach huts where we raced and built sandcastles and did Olympic jumping and investigated rockpools and even swam once or twice in the rather cool North Sea. And after 5km of walking I didn't hurt one bit in anywhere but my feet! And The Wee Page Turner, who hasn't slept in my arms since he was fourth months old, fell asleep in the carrier and snuggled in close. It was so lovely and a real moment to cherish.

We have been doing lots of crafts and activities inspired by some of the books we love reading and sharing them as part of the #bookishplay team over on Instagram. There are so many inspiring ideas over there and it has challenged me to be more creative with the activities that we do as well as carving out a snippet of time each week to sit down and do something fun with BookBairn. We used to do lots more craft and activities together but it's trickier now that I have two to supervise with paint and, until very recently, The Wee Page Turner just explored everything with his mouth. So I've loved taking the time to sit and play or make with BookBairn. To find out more about #bookishplay check out the hashtag over on Instagram or read this blog post by one of our team members:
'Why Do Books and Playtime Make the Best Combo?'

I have said it before and I'll say it again. I am no baker. If that's your talent or hobby I admire you because I simply do not have the patience for it. I know my strengths and they do not lie in creating marvelous and delicious treats from flour, eggs and butter. But I make the effort occasionally to open one of those pre-mixed kits and add the wet ingredients and pretend with BookBairn that we are baking. And she loves it! So this month we did just that and baked some little cakes for when one of my lovely friends came round to play. And they were scrummy. I did ice them but they didn't look very pretty so we covered them in sprinkles and pretended that it didn't matter that the looked rubbish. Because they were reduced to crumbs within minutes anyway.