The Bean is Six and Half!

Today The Bean is six and a half... actually, that's not entirely true. It's been a little over a month since he reached that "milestone" age, but summer equals busy and I'm only just now finding the time to sit down and write his update. Don't worry folks, we'll pay for his therapy.

What an interesting age this is. The Bean certainly isn't a "little kid" anymore, but he's not quite a "big kid" either. While he very much wants to be a part of grown up conversations and have all kinds of independence, he still loves to pretend play with his sister, is afraid of being alone, and loves getting snuggles.

This may sound a bit funny, but he seems to be speaking in a more mature way lately. I think a lot has to do with all the reading he does, because he has been trying out new words and phrases fairly regularly. Sometimes he gets them in the right context, other times not so much. It catches me off guard. I guess it's just not something I really expect. It is pretty neat to see him try to figure out. It also surprises me in that I would definitely hesitate to try out a new word with other people, but he is so willing to take the risk. I'm not sure if that's personality, something that has been fostered, or what.

While he can be shy at times, particularly around new people, overall he is outgoing and confident. He's still on the small side, but rarely hesitates to approach older kids and ask them if he can join in. He wears his heart on his sleeve and you can see his shoulders slump when he is rejected. Occasionally he needs reminders of how it makes him feel to be told he's "too small," but overall he does well with younger kids too. He adores babies.

He LOVES be outside. I think he would live outside if we let him. He and I did a "Nature Nuts" program at the Brickworks over the winter. I didn't think it was very well organized, but he loved getting out on adventures. He hikes, runs, bikes, scoots, skateboards, skates, climbs, swims... The summer has been pretty fabulous for all of that. Second to being active, he probably enjoys reading the most. Okay. Not entirely true. iPad or other tablets might rank as #2, or maybe even #1, but they're almost exclusively reserved for short periods over the weekends. He also really likes TV. But again: his access is limited. He's become a lot more interested in playing games. Uno and Old Maid have been in high rotation this summer. He's very competitive.

We have been so busy over the past few months. The end of the school year was a whirlwind with lessons, and playing at the park after school and visiting friends, but the summer has also been busy. We've taken a break from all scheduled programs, but will likely go back to piano, swimming and gymnastics in the fall. The Bean wants to do everything. Jen and I have talked about putting him in dance or acting, because he seems to enjoy both, but he's been talking more about learning to play drums and basketball. I think our neighbours might find a way of getting us evicted if we bought him a drum set, and we'll see what happens with the basketball...

On top of being active, he's also pretty fearless. He has no reservations about climbing to the top of the tallest trees and jumping from their branches back down to the ground. He loves to go fast. He got to ride go carts for the first time this summer and thought they were pretty much the best thing ever along with the roller coasters he was able to ride on at various amusement parks. I can totally see him getting into some sort of extreme sport.

Health wise he's been good. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned what we found out about his belly issues. The gastroenterologist we've been going to hasn't been super helpful. After reading some research, we decided to take him off Restorolax, and if anything I'd say we've seen a positive improvement both with his digestive issues and with his temperament. We tried to have him tested for Celiac, but it turns out he actually lacks the protein that is used to check for it. Then, again after doing some research, I found out that the vast majority of people who lack this protein are allergic to dairy, which we strongly suspect is The Bean's #1 issue. Anyway, we may have him tested for other allergies, but it's not a huge priority right now as things mostly seem to be under control.

His teeth have been an ongoing issue. He lost his first tooth in the spring, which was pretty exciting with the tooth fairy coming to visit and all. His second tooth fell out shortly after. We were happy that they came out as the new ones were already growing in behind the baby teeth. The top two were wobbly for a while and both fell out, again within days of each other, at the end of the school year. Meanwhile his six year molars erupted and when we went for a dentist appointment last month they were already showing signs of decay. The dentist assured us that we're doing a good job looking after his teeth, but that probably because of deficiencies or an illness during their developmen, he has what appears to be very weak enamel and is prone to cavities. Poor kid. He got his eighth filling shortly after that appointment.

He eats well. He seems to like what he likes, and NOT like what he doesn't like. He isn't super into trying new foods, and often will say "Yuck!" before it's even touched his tongue, only to say after another few seconds that actually he does like it. Lately he's been eating a ton which makes me suspect he's about to have another growth spurt. He would be happy to survive on carbs and ketchup.

He's currently about 44/45 inches tall and about 44/45lbs. We just got him new running shoes for school and they are a size 13. They're just a smidge big, but I'm hoping they will last into the new year. In clothing he's anywhere between a 4 and a 6, but leaning towards the larger sizes. Bottoms are generally smaller so they don't fall off his tiny waist. If he had his way he would be either in underwear or pajamas 24/7.

We've been a bit off of our schedule, but generally speaking he goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm and sleeps to about 6:30-7:30am. There were a few days earlier in the summer that he slept until after 9am. It was amazing!

I'm not really looking forward to getting us all back on a schedule for the start of the school year. The Bean is excited that he is going to be in Grade One. I feel like he's ready. Like I've said before, his reading is amazing. His comprehension is just a little behind his reading abilities, but still far beyond what would be expected at his age. His math abilities are average. Science and Social Sciences are probably average too. Gross motor skills are awesome and fine motor are probably right on track. He's able to reflect on his actions and does a pretty decent job with self-regulation, for the most part. I am slightly concerned about how influenced he can be by others, and hope that he'll behave appropriately (meaning with respect for others and with kindness). He's got a strong personality and is very sweet, but he also wants to fit in with the crowd, make people laugh, and get lots of attention.

A story: Back in April he and Sprout had been out drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. He had spent a long time working on the characters from P.J. Masks and Sprout, not really paying attention, drew over some of his work. He was so upset. He grabbed a white chalk and drew a big square around "his" area and went over to Sprout and said, "Sprout, do not draw in my area!" Later on I told him that I was impressed at how he handled the situation, knowing that he had been pretty upset. To which he says to me, "Self-Regulation, Mama." (He's also been known to coach me into taking a breath when I'm losing my temper with them.) Overall I'd say he's a pretty fantastic brother.

And on that note I am going to wrap this very overdue update up. I'm pretty sure this sweet child will be empathetic when he reads these later on and sees how behind I was. He keeps us on our toes and is such a great kid.

Four and a Half

Sorry to those of you who got the "draft" update.  Stupid Blogger.  Not only ate my post, but posted a draft.  *Grumble*  Please pretend you didn't see that and enjoy this rewritten version.

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...and now we are the parents of a four and a half year old!

The Bean at four and a half is a kid with big ideas and strong opinions who does not like to be told what to do.  He is active and playful and articulate and loving.  Being his parent is a joy and a challenge.  

There is no doubt that language continues to be an area of strength for The Bean.  He is incredibly articulate and has quite a sophisticated vocabulary.  He loves playing with new words.  He also loves making up words, telling us what they mean, and using them in conversation.  

Recently he has started reading, which is just amazing. He's got a good number of sight words (Dolch) and can figure out most CVC words which means that beginning readers are the perfect level for him right now.  Surprisingly, he also seems to be reading some longer/more obscure words. I'm not sure if he's actually reading or just figuring out what things say given the context.  The word "office" comes to mind (a Microsoft Office ad on the computer).  I can't think of others, but it happens fairly frequently.  

Of course, he continues to love books.  He'll happily sit and listen to someone read for as long as they're willing to read to him.  He's also quite content to sit and browse through books on his own.  Journey and Quest have are wordless picture books that have become fast favourites.  He also loves the eeBoo storytelling cards that we picked up for him and Sprout.  Jen is really good at "playing" these with him.

He is very social. He will strike up a conversation with just about anyone. He always has something he wants to share or discuss. He can be a little shy around people he doesn't know, but it doesn't usually take him long to warm up. He's started to take a real interest in his friends and often asks about them and wants us to make plans to get together, whereas before we initiated most of the meet-ups. He seems to gravitate towards older children and girls. It's particularly infatuated with a former student of mine who we've become family friends with. If you ask him who he loves, he always names her first. I should mention that she's nearly three times his age, lives in Chicago and he last saw her in April. *Sigh* I have a feeling this will be the first in a long line of crushes.  

In addition to liking girls, he has been saying fairly consistently for the past six months or so that he wants to be a girl. We're not really sure what to make of it. When we ask him why, he says that "girls are cool" and that he doesn't like being the only one who is different in our family.  We assure him that plenty of boys are cool too, and that we are all different from each other and what makes him different makes him special to us, but that we love him no matter what. He's worn "girl clothes" out a few times and has been pretty instant about growing his hair long like Rapunzel's.  (He wants to be able to stand on the balcony and let it down so our guests can climb up it.) We're trying to be respectful of his wishes and provide guidance. 

He loves pretend play and dressing up. His knight costume is a favourite, especially the sword. Captain America also gets a lot of wear. The biggest pretend play games are "babies" and "school" ...and sometimes "babies go to school." This type of imaginative play definitely wins out over any toys. There really aren't many toys he's very interested in.  Magnatiles got a good bit of attention for a while, but he even seems to be taking a break from those recently. If couch cushions count as toys, those might be his favourite.   

He's incredibly active. His climbing is just crazy. The way he manipulates his body is amazing to watch and he really seems fearless with regards to heights. He also loves to spin, jump, slide, run, splash and ride his bike and scooter. He's becoming much more confident in the water and will submerge his head (briefly) again. He can handle his two-wheeler (with training wheels) quite well. We've been spending lots of time at parks, splash pads and pools. He's been asking to go back to gymnastics, so I'm hoping to get him into a program again this fall.  

He loves music. Recently I've been blown away by his ability to remember both tunes and lyrics to new songs. He's been singing a lot and requests particular CDs to sing along and dance to. His current favourite is his "Welcome to Kindergarten" CD.  

He is SO pumped to be going to school in the fall.  I think he's going to love it. He's completely ready socially and I think the academics will be great for him too.  He's very curious about a number of things -language and geography standing out among them. His fine motor skills are low, pencil grip and penmanship in particular. He can write his name and draw stick people and other basic things, but doesn't seem to have much of an interest in art (though we've noticed he likes to paint objects rather than paper) and has to be encouraged to do any type of writing.  He does enjoy mazes and some kindergarten activity books.  

We're going to have to work on establishing a morning routine. While he loves being out, getting him out the door can be a challenge. He doesn't like having to get dressed or brush his teeth. He also just likes to lounge around and play. He'll get ready quickly when motivated by a fun activity or people he wants to see, but I imagine once the novelty of going to school wears off that we're going to have a bit of a challenge.  

I also anticipate that he's going to miss Sprout. They've become quite close. They get along well about 90% of the time.  The other 10% Sprout doesn't do what The Bean is telling her to and he gets upset. It is the sweetest thing to watch him "look out" for her, though we've noticed that he seems to feel responsible for her and seems to have some anxiety about that in certain situations, so we've been trying to reassure him that Mama and Mommy (or another adult we trust when we're not around) will take care of Sprout and that he doesn't have to worry.  

We've been trying to work on difficult behaviour.  Being bossy. Getting upset when things don't go his way. Being defiant. Blaming others. He's halfway to giving up naps, and he's definitely more difficult the afternoons when he hasn't slept. We also notice a difference when his stomach is bothering him. Difficult behaviours are best managed with lots of one-on-one attention and very calm and patient responses. It's hard sometimes though. Except for the rare occasion we've cut out all TV, movies, tablet and phone. It was becoming a battle every time it was time to turn the device off and just not worthwhile.   

He's still having tummy troubles.  Going completely off dairy has certainly helped and he is doing much better when we're giving him his daily fibre supplement (which we've been bad about since summer began)  I still feel like there's something more going on.  I think we may have him go through full allergy testing. At this point I just want to know what's going on and solve the problems once and for all.  

Despite the  digestive issues, he has been growing.  That said, he is still a peanut.  He's about 40.5in and 33 or 34lbs. He's moving into some 4T clothes, but mostly for length. He can still wear 18m shorts! Made-to-fit pants are a lifesaver. If given a choice, he would wear PJs all day, everyday.  "Zips" (fleece one piece jammies) are his favourite. Even in the 100 degree humidity we've been having. Aside from PJs he goes for cozy sweat pants and superhero t-shirts.   

He's picky about food but will try new things. He eats a lot of cereal and bread.  Nuts are also a favourite. He's so-so with fruits and veggies, meaning that he sticks to the ones he likes. We always swore we wouldn't make a separate meal for the kids, but: Famous Last Words. Otherwise we'd be eating a lot of chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese.

The past (four years and) six months have definitely been busy. There's been a lot of change in our lives and a lot to navigate with those changes. The Bean is a more sensitive kid than I sometimes realize and he definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. As always he's teaching me how to be a better Mama. How to listen and watch and have patience and be gentle but also how to live in the moment and not take things too seriously and smile more and love openly. This kid. My heart. 

::right now::

 

 
 Right now I am...

::listening to sweet kitty snores.
::sipping my favourite tea.
::catching up on blogs.
::hoping our readers forgive me for the lack of response to their comments lately.  (I read every one and appreciate them so much.  I will try to get back on track soon.) 
::enjoying the sunlight coming through the curtains and the fact that I am warm inside.
::smiling at the evidence of morning playtime that happened while I was still cozy in bed. 
::trying to remember lyrics to songs so I can sing more to this little one. 
::weighing the positives and negatives of a potential job opportunity.
::marvelling at how quickly small gets big.
::sending wishes for a happy Monday to everyone reading. 

Inspired by SouleMama

Slowing Down

I wrote a little bit about our vacation in my last *Navalgazing* update.  I am so glad we were able to get away and to see the family.  Still, it is nice to be back home and get back into the routine here.  It's been a very busy summer and though I've certainly enjoyed it, it will be nice to have some predicatbility to the days again. 

Yesterday morning, I pulled out my little notebook and wrote down my "To Dos" for the day.  Not everything got crossed off, but I did accomplish a good bit.  Today's list will likely be shorter, but with some bigger projects (it's finally time to get all my school papers sorted and packed away).  

Some photos from yesterday:

Saying hello to the little birds that hang out in our front yard.

Hanging laundry on the clothesline.

Finishing up Sprout's first mama-mades.

Doting on the recovering patient.

Hopefully I'll get into a routine of blogging more regularly too.  At the beginning of the summer I thought I'd have time to update most days, but our schedule hasn't really allowed for that.  Now that things are slowing down, maybe it will.

{this moment} Laundry Day

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

  

Inspired by SouleMama. 

Nine Months Old!

Today The Bean is nine months old!

-I feel like The Bean's growth has slowed down a little bit, but just the other week Jen noticed that he's taller than his best friend who's always been bigger than him, so who knows!  We'll be taking him in for his nine month well-check soon, so I'll post updated weight and length and whatnot then.

-As predicted, his second tooth popped up shortly after his first one.  We now believe that he'll soon be getting a third tooth on the bottom right.  His teeth are a little crooked and mighty sharp!  He's broken the skin on my finger and Jen's boob.  The words, "No biting!" are often heard when Jen is nursing and Sophie the giraffe is kept nearby for him to chop on between suckling. (Note from Jen: Any advice for preventing the biting is encouraged!)

-Starting two days ago The Bean began drinking both water and formula from a bottle.  This is a serious breakthrough and does a lot to ease my stress about sending him to daycare in a few months.  I hope he continues to take bottles.

-He continues to be an excellent eater.  He has preferences, but we can usually blend things together and get him to eat stuff he may not eat if it weren't mixed.  New foods include kamut, banana, cheeses, olives, pumpkin, yogurt, oats, raisins, cranberries and probably others that I'm forgetting.  He's eating more finger foods and uses his little teeth to bite into things, chewing them up with his gums.

-He's exclusively in 6-12 month clothes now.  Some things are still huge on him, but we've come to discover that such is baby sizing.  (Not unlike women's sizing.)

-We were having some difficulty with night-waking for a while.  Many nights The Bean was getting up and nursing about three times.  It was getting pretty rough on Jen especially, but then, just this past week he slept 11+ hours two nights in a row.  We're hoping this trend continues.  Most nights he goes down around 6pm and stays in bed until about 7am. 

-Crawling is still The Bean's main mode of transportation, but he is also getting really good at pulling himself up on things and has started taking just a few steps along an object or from one object to another.

-His favourite toys these days are ones that light up and/or make noise.  He has a hand-me-down tractor with animals that he loves (especially the horse) and his v-tech car toy from his cousins is another favourite.

-He loves the sheepskin rug in his nursery.  After bath time in the evening we let him crawl around in his room and if it's not out already, he'll pull it out from under his crib and roll around on it.  He'll actually throw himself forward onto it, lie there for a second, and then roll back and forth.  He LOVES it when we wrap it all the way around him and will giggle.  It is adorable.  

-Jen and The Bean continue to go to swim class once a week.  He loves the water and has been praised by the swim teacher for his ability to "swim" underwater.

-He continues to do really well around people.  I was surprised this past weekend when we went to my brother's place for Thanksgiving. There were a ton of new people around and he smiled and was quite happy to let them hold him. 

-He is getting more and more expressive and interactive.  He gives the biggest smile when we go to get him up from his naps.  He crawls over to me as quick as he can and throws himself at us when he wants a cuddle or when we're "wrestling."  He is also quite vocal when he wants to be and is making a variety of sounds. 


We are so lucky that The Bean has such a happy baby.  He brings joy to our days! 

What's the What With that Thing

Five Minute Update

Sleep Training

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Allison and I were working on sleep training The Bean. Before we started, we spent anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour bouncing, shhhhhing, and singing him to sleep. I felt like whoever was putting him down on any given night was giving up their evening in order to get him to sleep. After falling asleep he would be up anywhere from 2 to 4 times a night and we'd either be nursing or bouncing him back to sleep again.

I am now ecstatic to report that The Bean usually puts himself to sleep within 15 minutes. It will range anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour, but 15 minutes seems to be about the average. The other night, he went down at 6:00, had a brief waking around 9, and then went all of the way through until 4:00 a.m. Wow. That was the longest stretch of sleep I've had in over 7 months! I know cry-it-out isn't for everyone, but The Bean has made more progress with that method than anything else we tried (and we tried it all!).

Baby Ingredients

We have also been in touch with our sperm bank and were able to purchase the three extra vials that we were wait-listed for. There is one caveat. The samples can't be released for use in Canada. Fortunately, we live close enough to the border that a certain teacher would be able to drive down over the summer to have IUI attempts performed in Buffalo.

We debated whether we should purchase the samples if they can only be used in the US, but ultimately we both agreed that if we passed on this opportunity and Allison couldn't get pregnant with the samples we already have in Canada then we would be upset with ourselves for letting these ones go.

Seven Months Old!

Today The Bean is seven months old!

-The Bean continues to grow and grow and grow!  We won't have any official stats on him until his 9 month well-check but his feet are almost touching the ground in his Jumperoo and it seems we have to put more of his clothes into storage for Baby #2 everyday.  He now fits comfortably into his 6mo clothes.

-We've introduced a few more new foods including apple, mango, green beans, egg yolk, lamb, oatmeal, and rice puffs.  He continues to be an enthusiastic eater!  We're often left wondering where he puts it all.

-He is definitely teething, although there are no signs of a tooth yet.  He chews on everything and rubs his gums together even when there's nothing to chew on.  Orajel has become a part of our bedtime routine.

-Speaking of bedtime, we have started doing a slightly modified version of Cry It Out.  We do our usual bedtime routine, then rock him for a few minutes and put him down.  If he's crying we go in and check on him after 5, then 10, then 15 minutes.  So far he has always fallen asleep by the end of the 15  minute mark, if not sooner.  It's definitely hard to listen to him cry, but he seems to be getting better at putting himself down and I think it's preserving some of our sanity.  The next step is try to eliminate one of his nighttime wakings.  I expect that listening to him cry at 4am is going to be a lot harder than listening to him cry at 6:30pm.

-At the beginning of August we transitioned The Bean from the co-sleeper in our bedroom to his crib in the nursery.  We did it cold turkey and he made the switch wonderfully.  We were all ready for the move.

-He continues to work on his gross motor skills of sitting and crawling.  The issue with sitting seems to be that he much rather stand!  He is going to be unstoppable once he figures out how to pull himself up.  Crawling is also still a work-in-progress.  He's getting closer, but usually ends up just rolling where he wants to go. 

-He rolls towards and picks up the toy he wants to play with, with obvious intent.  He will look at it closely, turning it in his hands.  He will also pass a toy from one had to the other. Then he usually throws it across the room.  *Sigh*

-He's still Mr. Social.  He likes getting people's attention by giving them big smiles.  He happily goes to pretty much anyone although he doesn't seem to be thrilled when there are tons of new faces all at once.  

-It is the best thing in the world to listen to him giggle.  Silly faces and noises are almost guaranteed to get a big belly laugh out of him.

-Now that we're making an effort to call The Bean by his given name rather than by nicknames like "Buddy" or "Baby," he's starting to respond by turning to look at us. 

The Bean is now closer to being a year old than he is to being a newborn.  As I know I've said before, the time is passing so quickly and we are trying to enjoy every minute of it!

Six Months Old!

Today The Bean is six months old!



-It seems like The Bean has really grown this month. We haven't been in for his six month well-check yet, but I'm very curious to see how much weight he's gained and how long he is.

-He LOVES eating. Feeding our little boy is a highlight of the day. He seems to enjoy it so much. He sometimes makes a funny face after the first bite, but then opens wide until we put another spoonful in. If he's hungry and we don't feed him fast enough he "shouts" at us! He eats a variety of foods including apricot, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, watermelon, green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, beef, chicken, pork, turkey, and brown rice cereal. The only things he hasn't seemed to enjoy are avocado and cantaloupe.

-We think he may be teething. He's always putting things in his mouth to chew on, and has starting doing a weird chompy thing even when he doesn't have anything in his mouth. If he's fussy we can often sooth him by rubbing his gums. We can't feel anything coming through yet, though. While we were away we picked up some Orajel that we sometimes put on before bedtime.

-He continues to make progress with his crawling. He easily rolls over and now seems to enjoy being on his tummy and propping himself up on his arms when looking at toys or just looking around. He'll also get his bum up in the air and try to push himself forward. He does pretty well, especially on a softer surface, and I feel like it won't be too much longer until he figures out real crawling.

-He's also getting close to being able to sit up on his own. He can tripod for about 10 seconds before flopping over.

-Since a few people have remarked on it, I will also include that he is quite good at standing up. There are even times when he makes it obvious that this is what he wants to being doing. He can stand just holding our fingers for quite a while. He also loves to jump both when we're holding him under his arms or in his JollyJumper.

-The Bean's repertoire of sounds is expanding. He coos and shouts and gasps and giggles and even does this funny huffy puffy thing when he is upset. We found it interesting that the ENTIRE time we were away he did not gasp at all, but as soon as we got back home he started to again.

-He has also started making some really silly faces. Our absolute favourite face is still his big toothless grin.

-He did really well with being around all different people on our trip. He didn't seem to mind being held by anyone. We hope that the exposure to different people now will help prevent him from becoming too clingy to us as he gets older.

-We continue to have sleep difficulties. He goes down around 7pm and is usually up about three times a night (around 10:30pm, 1:30am, and 4:30am) before waking up at about 6:30am. We're reading books to help decide what we're going to do to try to get him sleeping through the night. (Any plans are on hold until after our trip to the East Coast to visit my dad later this month.) Naps are still pretty good. Usually if he's been down for a while we go in and he gives us a big smile and we know he's ready to get up. If we go in and he cries, we know he's tired and try to get him to go back down for longer. The nap issue we're facing now is that he WILL NOT nap if we are out. It's like he doesn't want to miss anything that's going on.

-He is now wearing his 3-6 month clothes and even some of his 6mo+ clothes. He has grown SO MUCH this past month.

It is so amazing to be home with The Bean and Jen for the summer. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it!

On the Bookshelf

Here are The Bean's bedtime books for this week:

Goodnight Moon
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
First Words
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
Big Red Barn
The Pigeon Loves Things That Go!
Everywhere a Moo, Moo

First Words didn't seem as interesting as Farm did last week, even though it's a very similar book.

Goodnight Moon is such a classic, I feel like I don't need to describe it. I really liked Big Red Barn, also by Margaret Wise Brown.

Jen loves Dr. Seuss, so Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? is one that she read The Bean a couple of times during the week.

Going on Bear Hunt is the song illustrated. It's okay, but not a favourite at this point. Jen thought it was too long.

Again, Everywhere a Moo, Moo is just the song Old MacDonald. I like that it uses actual photos of animals in it. I'm finding that's something I'm quite partial to... not so much in stories, but in the touch and feel style books and ones about everyday objects and whatnot.

The Pigeon Loves Things That Go! was short and funny. Nothing spectacular, but something to get a little chuckle out of.

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I've decided that rather than make this a weekly feature, I'm going to post monthly and only include books that we really liked or that are particularly fitting for the season. Please continue to share your children's favourite books. I love getting suggestions! (One of the parents of a student I taught last year just gave us a baby gift of a bookstore gift certificate that is burning a hole in my pocket!)