(Sorry for the delay in posting this - I somehow seemed to have forgotten to schedule it!) October has been and gone. And it's...

Little Loves - October

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 BookBairn 2 Comments


(Sorry for the delay in posting this - I somehow seemed to have forgotten to schedule it!)

October has been and gone. And it's been a lovely month of holidays with BookBairn off nursery for a fortnight, my parents visiting for a week, a birthday and Halloween! Lots of treats!



BookBairn met Max this month and she has fallen in love. We started with Max at Night by Ed Vere which I thought would be nice now that they darker evenings are upon us. And he was a huge hit - she spotted the other covers of the books inside so we immediately requested Max the Brave and Max and the Bird from the library. Max is such an adorable character - he's a bit naive and part of the joke is that your little reader already knows more than him so can see his assumptions are all wrong, thus giving them the giggles. But they are also immediately rooting for Max - hoping that he succeeds in his quest to say goodnight to the moon, or find a mouse to chase or befriending (rather than eating the little bird). Ed Vere's stories are incredibly clever and subtly sweet. The illustrations are just enchanting and BookBairn adores Max. These copies are all library books so I suspect we will be adding some Max books to our collection when these are due to be returned. I love that the library lets you try before you buy.


The Wee Page Turner is rather fascinated by all things The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Perhaps it's because his big sister wants to read the original story to him on a daily basis but it might also be that he loves this novelty puppet book. Interestingly, we had a few puppet books for BookBairn when she was little but she took almost no interest in them at all. But The Wee Page Turner loves this one! He likes it when the caterpillar tickles him. And he often learns in to give the caterpillar a kiss. And now whenever he seems anything caterpillar - we've been in two bookshops recently that had great The Very Hungry Caterpillar displays - he goes straight for them and starts making a little munching sound. I just love that this classic appeals to him too!


I have had the most wonderful reading experience this month as I discovered what I think will be the best book I read this year! Pages & Co. by Anna James is the story of Tilly Pages who  is just discovering there’s more to books than between the covers. Her favourite characters greet her in her family’s bookshop. She book wanders inside her favourite stories. And travels to the underlibrary - the organisation that manages it all. And of course there’s a mystery to solve and a suspicious character who takes an instant dislike to Tilly. What an adventure! I adored every page. There were so many beautiful passages about the wonder of books, book lovers and libraries/bookshops. As well as scenes from a bookworm’s dream. It might be a children's book but it's a wonderful read for a book-loving grown-up too!


This month we have stepped up our Disney watching as I decided to download and subscribe to the Disney Life App (we have it on our iPad but also downloaded the app to our television so we can more easily watch as a family but I believe you can also use the app to mirror screen or chromecast to other devices - I'm no tech-genius however!). BookBairn is really enjoying listening to more Disney songs and she often asks to watch the film or see a particular character or princess but we only had limited access to certain movies on our television package without paying to download each individual movie. So we now pay £4.99 a month to have access to the whole Disney back catalogue through the app. So we have watched Wreck It Ralph, 101 Dalmatians, A Little Mermaid and several of the Pixar shorts amongst bits of other films. And it's great! BookBairn can easily work the app (as can I) and can choose the characters based on the images. And we also have all the Disney TV shows too so we will be exploring those soon. Such good value we will be asking for some pennies for Christmas from family members so that we can keep subscribing, especially as we have a very magical trip planned in March!

It wouldn't be an October round-up without mentioning the children's halloween costumes. Last year, BookBairn dressed as a ghost so this year when I asked her what she wanted to go as she said a ghost again. So we bought her a new dress as her old one was quite small. But it also works perfectly as I had already picked up a costume for The Wee Page Turner as a Ghostbuster. The Wee Page Turner's favourite song is the theme tune from Ghostbusters and he has danced along to it since he could prop himself up on the sofa. So it seemed like the perfect costume! And of course it meant that they had a wonderful sibling costume!




We have become rather fascinated by a new game that was sent by a publisher which not only makes books but also the most fantastic illustrated games. We have had games from them in the past and have really enjoyed them but I Saw it First! Jungle has become a whole family hit! With a board featuring 300 different species of animal, some of which are very similar, and 300 game cards, the object of the game is very simple: be the one who spots the animal first. Except it's trickier than it sounds! With six gameboard pieces the gameboard changes with every set-up. And a box full of 300 pieces means you are hardly likely to get the same animals very often! Add to the mix a very observant BookBairn who is an keen animal enthusiast and it's a game of level-pegging! The illustrations are great and BookBairn loves looking at them and describing the animals so it's also great for her knowledge as well as building decriptive vocabulary. But mostly it's a competitive sport. Daddy BookBairn and I have even played after the kids have gone to bed (I beat him 30-17 in case you were wondering!). It's fun for everyone!


We really love play dough - BookBairn can play with it for ages and The Wee Page Turner is usually occupied with it for long enough for me to have a cup of tea! And we have mentioned in the past that we love the Kids Knead Play boxes so I ordered a Halloween box for them and they loved it! But a Halloween box now seems a bit past it's date so I packed all the little bits into a ziplock bag for next year and The Wee Page Turner and I went to the hardware shop and picked up lots of screws, dowel, bits of pipe, nuts and bolts and made a construction box! We kept the play dough from the box (as it's good for six months with a little top of water when it gets a bit dry) and voila new box. BookBairn loves it too and is fascinated by the different prints that the screws make as well as using the pipes to make shapes, and The Wee Page Turner likes sticking things in the dough so everyone is happy!


A few more words from The Wee Page Turner. This month he has added "bye bye", "dada" and "bear" to his repertoire as well as having much more understanding than he had before! It's lovely to hear him master his words and be able to communicate with us better.

We have a very exciting collaboration next month (November/December) with the lovely ladies behind Tidy Books, furniture and book storage experts, and Smallprint Books, the best curated children's bookshop you will find online (and in London). We are sharing a book each week that has been carefully chosen as a perfect books to 'give the gift of reading' with and at the end of the five weeks we will be giving away all five books and a book tidy box to one lucky follower. You can read more about it here.

I have also been working away on Christmas gift guides for you all and now have a list (rather like the man in red) and photos sorted I think so just time to get writing and I hope to have those up for you soon.


I'm looking forward to starting to get organised for the festive season!
Hope you've had a lovely month.
Mummy and the bairns xx



Little Loves Coffee Work Sleep Repeat


Disclaimer: I was sent I Saw it First! Jungle for  free for review purposes by the publishers. Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.

2 comments:

  1. Read
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (but only at my bath time). Otherwise reading “A Column of Fire” by Ken Follett - an ebook borrowed from the library. It’s set in the 2nd half of the 16th century when Queen Elizabeth was on the throne and Queen Mary was imprisoned then executed. Interesting times.

    Watched
    2nd series of Poldark. Beautiful sunsets and sunrises over the cliff top path. If you ever want to bump in to someone you know then that’s the path to be on. It’s busier than Sauchiehall Street.

    Wore
    my “Papa Pumpkinhead” sweater at Halloween ��

    Played
    golf at St Andrews during the holiday week. We were lucky with the weather which was a good bit better than the golf.

    Made
    an awesome meal from Jamie’s 15 minute recipes - Sticky Kicking Chicken with Watermelon Radish Salad and Crunchy Noodles. Looked fab and tasted pretty good. Only took 2 hours to make!!!

    Heard
    BookBairn making the Wee Page Turner laugh. Great fun.

    and Lastly
    I’m not looking forward to getting organised for the festive season.
    Bah! Humbug!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha to Poldark path!!! Great round up Papa!!

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