What We're Reading!

Earlier this week, the nice folks are New Year Publishing sent Makayla two books to satisfy her new love of reading. Paris Goes to San Francisco and Paris Goes to Lake Tahoe.  These are just two books in a series called My Friend Paris that are writen by a couple of young girls that started the series when they were just 10 years old.  These books are part of her travel series and follow Paris as she explores San Francisco and Lake Tahoe with her family.

If you have been following my What We're Reading! you know that one of the things I am always looking for in the books we choose is that the illustrations be easy for Makayla to see. These books are beautifully illustrated with bright bold colors that cover the whole page.  Makayla lit up as she pointed out all the new details on each page, pointing to the things she hasn't seen yet and asking, "That?!" waiting for me to tell her what each thing is.  I grew up and still do live near San Francisco, and this little girl has seen more of the city than I have!  As we read it, I thought to myself, we'll have to use all the destinations in this book as a checklist of places to take the twerpies to visit as they grow up here.

I am crazy about these books for several reasons.  Although these are not board books like we're used to, because they are written with school aged girls in mind, the pages are not just ordinary paper, so they don't tear easily, which makes them easy to share with my toddlers now, but will make them great books for them to grow into as they learn to read for themselves.  I also love that the author is a young girl, herself.  Reading these books to my daughter is a great way to teach her what young girls are capable of!  Also, since I have twins, I was excited to learn that the main character is a big sister to younger twin girls.



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What We're Reading

After a two week hiatus, it's time to get back to sharing What We're Reading.

Over the past two weeks in which I didn't share our favorite books, Makayla has still been hung up on the Two is for Twins book that I shared last time.  I have to admit that it has grown on me.  I'm sure it has everything to do with how much Makayla loves to read it to us.

Austin has also really started to enjoy reading.  I've found him sitting down and reading books by him self a few times even. This kid doesn't sit still for anything, so it really warmed my heart the other day when I found him sitting against his stuffed frog chair and flipping through the pages of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.  He was pointing at the pictures and mumbling something out loud, as if he were actually reading each page out loud.

However, this week, Makayla has a new favorite.  It's another one of the Baby Einstein books.  All I can say is, these Baby Einstein folks know what they're doing!  We are currently reading...and rereading...and reading, Baby Einstein: Language Nursery.  This isn't a book I would have picked out on my own, it was a hand-me-down.  It seems a little boring at first glance.  Simple, plain images, very few words, most not even in English.  But Baby Einstien gets it right , every time!

This book has a simple (but bold and easy to see for Makayla) image on one side of the page and on the opposite page there is a short sentence about the image and the sentence is written in about six different languages.  I have yet to actually ready the other languages to them, but the back of the book says that hearing the different languages is good for children during their language learning years.

On the last page, instead of an image, there is a mirror.  This is Makayla's favorite part.  She is always so excited and surprised to find herself in the book!  It cracks her up and she gets supper close to the mirror and kisses herself and giggles.  We have mirrors for the kids to play with, but there is something about having in it the book that makes it SO much more magical!

One of my favorite things about the book is that it's taught Makayla the work "duck."  Of course, now everything that isn't a dog or cat, is a duck...but she's learning!


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What We're Reading

These kids are loving their books more and more each week.  Makayla will have a stack of three of four she wants to read at one time, and when we're through with that stack, we can start all over again!  I'm still not clear who is reading to who.  These are the moments I chant in my head, "Never forget this moment, never forget this moment!" because I know that it's going to pass all too quickly and I'm going to miss it so much.

This week's book was picked out by Austin.  Baby Einstein: See and Spy Shapes.  Generally, everything Baby Einstein is a huge hit around here, and this book is no exception.  Each page features a different shape and short poem about how to identify the shape, and a challenge to find all the other shapes in the picture.

With twins, there is never a shortage of things to buy, so I am obsessed with finding books/toys/clothes that we can grow with, and this book fits the bill.  The twerpies really aren't old enough to care about shapes yet, but the fun pictures and the catchy rhymes make it a lot of now, and later, it will be a great way to teach them their shapes.

What We're Reading

The kids are finally into books! Well, Makayla is.  Austin is way too busy to slow down and sit with a book, but since he's been sick, he does like to curl up on my lap and have a book read to him.  I don't think this will continue once he's feeling better.

Both of their grandfathers are big readers and I feel a great deal of responsibility that I raise eager little readers.

Up until this point, books were for gnawing at, and tearing to confetti sized pieces, a sight that would probably send my father into cardiac arrest.  But in the last few weeks, something changed. 

Our thoughtful friends whom threw our baby shower asked each guest to bring a book to help start our kids library.  Everyone wrote a sweet note in the cover telling Austin and Makayla why it was their favorite book.  Since that time, I've continued to collect books for them, making sure to snag the board book copies that are much more difficult (but I assure you, not impossible) to ruin.  And just a few weeks ago, they discovered the book shelf that's been in their room since they were home from the hospital.

Now that they are interesting in books, I thought it would be fun to share what we are reading each week and why it's our favorite, or not so much.

This week's (actually, for the last several weeks) book is an undeniable classic: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

This is a book I remember reading with my dad.  I can't imagine anyone hasn't heard of this book before, but in case you haven't, it's a story about a little caterpillar that hatches from it's egg and eats through many fruits and other foods, counting all the way through his meals. 

The story is quite simple and a bit repetitive for my taste now, but Makayla LOVES it!  The bright, bold colors are easy for her to see, and the tiny holes where the caterpillar eat through each item are the perfect size for her little fingers to explore.  The page with the strawberries and oranges are her absolute favorite.

I can see this book being one that we continue to love and grow with for it's obvious education purposes.  No wonder it's a classic!

Reading her favorite "strawberries and oranges" page.

Showing mommy her favorite book, nad how happy it makes her