Birthday Fun
I can't resist sharing this video, where Eleanor emphatically informs everyone that she REALLY IS FOUR now. Cracks me up.
Phonics
As I mentioned last week, I'm loving the verbal & linguistic explosion she's been having. We've been reading books (me reading to her & her reading to me) for at least an hour every day. I spent forever at the library trying to pick out appropriate books. But "level 1" readers vary wildly from publisher to publisher, so while some of them were perfect, some were way too hard. Then we went to Bookmans, where I got just a wee bit carried away.
The tiny books at the bottom are little paperback phonics books in the Biscuit Phonics Fun
series. I HIGHLY recommend these if you have an emergent reader: they're only about 10 pages long, and each little book focuses on a particular vowel sound. Bookmans only had 6 of the books in the set though; so I just ordered the Little Critter Phonics Fun
and The Berenstain Bears Phonics Fun
sets too. Because of reading so much to Eleanor, I've been reading less myself. But you can always follow me on Goodreads to see what I've been reading!
Outdoors
I personally despise (a) sweating and (b) sunburns, so I mostly avoid being outside between 10 am and 5 pm from May - September. So we've been going to the park a lot in the last couple of weeks, because the highs are still only 85 - 90. It's hot, but manageable as long as there's some shade and we take sunscreen and water. Poor bald Juliet though, I keep putting hats on her; but I just know that there's going to be a burned baby head at some point this summer!
Harry Potter
I knew I'd love re-reading the series with the YABMC this year, but I underestimated how much I'd enjoy reading Harry Potter as part of a book club. It's been so fun to be able to talk about each book with other people; and I've listened to 3.5 of the books so far on audiobook
, which is really fun. I feel like I'm noticing more little details: perhaps because of the audio? Perhaps because I'm consciously trying to think of discussion questions as I read? Or perhaps because this is my third time through the series now.
Posts
I rarely comment on blogs any more, since I mostly read from my phone while nursing Juliet. But I still have read some great posts lately!
- Jill quite aptly convinced me NOT to read this book.
- Pamela sums up the history of the Silk Roads nicely, with funny footnotes as always.
- I enjoyed following all the people participating in the Readathon on Twitter. Kim's readathon included Totino's Pizza. Jen's readathon was all about short classics. And Florinda's was a little on the dozy side a couple of times, ha.
- Like me, part of the reason Jeanne read Eleanor & Park is because she has a daughter named Eleanor.
- I agree with Sheila's review of In the Garden of Beasts. I didn't enjoy it as much as Larson's other books.
- I just discovered what Frenchees are. And we're making them for dinner tomorrow night. I don't even care about the fact that they have milk, cheese, AND butter. Whatever, I'll pump & dump so as to avoid angering the baby; but I have to make these!
- I think it's funny that JuJu said she doesn't usually like British narrators, because they're my favorite!
- And I loved Moira's Oklahoma Photo Safari.
What are YOU into?
This post contains some affiliate links. If you shop via my links, I'll earn a few cents, thanks.
Also, I'm planning to link up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into series tomorrow!
