Book Review - Bedtime for Little Bears!

Do you know anyone who doesn't think bedtime is for them? When my kids resist bedtime I always think it's kind of ironic, because these days I would LOVE to go to bed when they do and sleep as much as they do. They don't know how good they've got it! Bedtime for Little Bears by David Bedford is our latest "free from the public library" treasure.

Mama Bear has help for all of us. Little Bear doesn't want to sleep either, but Mama knows best. She takes him for a little walk "to see who else is going to bed." Between the dimming lights and the whispering owl feathers little bear doesn't stand a chance. Mama Bear patiently leads Little Bear around to visit the snow hares (where he takes a bath and watches the stars come out) the arctic foxes (where he declares that he does like a good snuggle) and the orcas (lullabies anyone?) At last they circle back to their warm den, and by the time Mama Bear bestows a good night kiss, Little Bear is fast asleep.

I can't guarantee the sleepy time powers of this book with your children, but I can tell you that it takes my rambunctious little ones down a notch or two. If nothing else it reminds me that patience and some creativity will get us through our routine more effectively than nagging and complaining. Mama Bear is such a good example of co-regulation.

I can also tell you that you will love the artwork in this book. Caroline Pedler has captured the elegance of all of the animals, and the stark but beautiful surroundings of the arctic. The colors of the sky are particularly stunning. My favorite scene is the aurora borealis, which I've never seen in person, but love to see in art and photos.

Check it out. I think you'll agree that this book makes a great addition to your bedtime story library.

Sunday Digest 41

I think I'm slowly getting back into the swing of posting more frequently here (and keeping up at 5 Minutes, too...) Part of that is keeping up with following a lot of other blogs to keep the inspiration flowing. Here are some of the links I've come across in my perusing...

1) I wrote a post on Trisomy 9  about a month ago, and had the privilege of having a Trisomy 9 Mom stop by and comment on it. Turns out that Erin has her own blog where she writes about all the challenges they face. Here is a link to the story of her son's diagnosis, be sure to check out other posts, too.

2) OH...how I relate to Autism & Oughtisms post about the endless questions of childhood. Oh yes, we've been there, and still go there every once in a while. I've even blogged about it. "Why don't you crash into the car in front of you, Mommy?" was the child's favorite question for about three months and every time we were driving in the mini-van she would ask. Sadly we saw a bad car accident on the side of the road one day on the way home, and when I told her that's what happens when you crash, the question turned into "What happens to the car after it's crashed?" and I answered that one every time we saw a tow truck hauling a smashed up vehicle. Now I am asked to recall the finest details of my own childhood...and "I don't remember" is not a satisfactory answer. And yet, when I consider how hard she has worked to get her language to the level of asking questions...I swallow my impatience and try hard to answer in a way that will keep the conversation going.

3) Another been there, done that, moment from Bird on the Street - who has an older child with special needs, and twins (just like me)...but she's pregnant with baby number four, and we're not going there...hat's off to you, Katy! Anyway Katy tells the story of taking her three children to the pediatrician. Those of you without kids are thinking "What's hard about that?" and those with children are thinking "What was she thinking?" I actually do this all the time because I prefer the short term chaos to having three separate appointments where I have to find child care for one or two other children; but it ain't fun...let me tell you. Or let Katy tell you...

4) Had to check in with Praying for Parker. All of Tammy's posts teach me a lot. This one was especially touching to see Parker enjoying his favorite books with his Grandma and see the special bond they have. Sweet.

5) We are big Signing Time fans around here, although I need to expand our library of DVDs. We have used simple signs to help enforce rules, in particular, around our house. It helps me stay calm, for some reason, and it helps the kids pay a little extra attention. Rachel has been posting about a trip to Ghana where she helped a school for deaf children learn to use sign language in their curriculum. Reading these stories is a great reminder to count our blessings, and also to reach out to bless others...and also to keep exploring sign language with my kids.

That's it for this round...I hope you enjoy the links as much as I did. Please tell them you heard about them through The Simple Life.

Book Review - The Interrupting Chicken

Dinner conversation at our house these days is an event to witness. Everyone has something to say, even if it is not relevant to anything, often all three children are talking at once. I try to moderate:

• "It's Sissy's turn to talk, please wait."
• "Make sure no one else is talking before you talk."
• "Mommy can only hear one person at a time."

I am not always this calm about it. The child hates being interrupted and because of her language processing issues it takes her a while to figure out what she wants to say. If she is interrupted she has to start back at the beginning (yep), and then she has to figure out what she wants to say all over again. You can see why it is upsetting to her. Meanwhile her social skills haven't quite reached the level of knowing when she is dominating the conversation. She rattles on and on and her siblings just want to ask for more bread. Fun times. Really.

I asked for some help from our Speech Pathologist at school, and she recommended this fun story about interrupting. I'm not sure it is quite what I was after, but Interrupting Chicken is a really cute story. The little red chicken is all ready for bed but she wants a bedtime story. Papa agrees to read on the condition that little chicken will not interrupt. You can tell they've been through this before. "I'll be good, Papa." Papa tries three different familiar stories, and each time little red chicken interrupts and "ruins" the story. Papa gives up in exasperation. He is more sleepy than little chicken. He decides to turn the tables and have little chicken tell the story. So she writes a story and reads it to Papa, who interrupts, "ZZZzzzzzzz." Finally we see them snuggled up together fast asleep. This reminds me of our family. Daddy often does the bedtime stories and can read himself to sleep quite easily. Meanwhile the kids are still wired and ready for action.

Taken as its own story, this is a great book, as evidenced by winning a Caldecott Honor Award. The text is engaging and easy to read. The illustrations draw you into the story until you feel like you are in little chicken's room trying to get her to sleep. I really like how the three familiar stories are brought in both in text and illustration. I think it helps the reader understand the impact of the interruption.

For my purposes, I'm not sure this is quite what we need. First, the book isn't about a conversation, but story time. Though not perfect, our kids have gotten a lot better about sitting and listening to a story. All of those trips to the library are starting to pay off, I think. My second hesitation with this book is that there's no clear consequence to little chicken when she interrupts. In fact she kind of gets her way because she wants to stay up later. That's the kind of message I don't want my kids to pick up on. I want them to learn that interrupting is rude and reaps trouble.

So I'm still looking for a tool to help teach my kids polite conversation skills, but if you want a fun read, check out The Interrupting Chicken. If you know of a good book I should check out, let me know in the comments below.

Book Review - the show-and-tell lion

"There's a moon up in the sky."
"Really? I don't see it, sweetie. Not that I don't believe you, but where is it?"
"Mom, I was just pretending my cheerio is a moon."
"Oh!"

Children have such wonderful imaginations. It's hard for us to remember sometimes how real their imaginary ideas are to them. In "the show-and-tell lion" the main character, Matthew, wants to share something exciting with his class during show-and-tell. He says, "I have a lion...a baby lion." and the story grows from there. His teacher tries to redirect him, but her alternate story is just a false, or maybe more false because it is not what he is seeing in his own mind. As the other children ask questions, Larry (the lion) grows bigger and bigger. Matthew's tale gets away from him when the children all ask to go on a field trip to see Larry before he has to go live at the zoo.

There are so many things I love about this story. It explores the imagination of a little boy and how real it becomes to him. The illustrations by Lynne Avril Cravath are endearing and add to the story in subtle ways (like the protrait of George Washington peering over Matthew's shoulder as he begins his fantastic story). The text by Barbara Abercrombie is straightforward and easy to read.

I think what I like best is that Matthew takes his dilemma home and shares it with his mother. Her response is that Matthew needs to tell the truth. She doesn't rescue him by rushing out to find a pet lion (unlikely, I know...but these days...) or letting him stay home from school for a few days while his friends move on to something else. She guides him to understand that his wonderful imagination has gotten away from him, and that he needs to be honest. Matthew's excellent solution is to make Larry "real" in a story. He writes down all of Larry's adventures and illustrates them himself. When he shares the "real" Larry with his class they are initially disappointed, but soon caught up in the adventure of the story. I also like how the author and illustrator show pages of Matthew's story and both the writing and drawing are typical of a child's writing and drawing - with cross outs, misspellings, and simple shapes.

Imagination is a wonderful gift, and this story shows how to encourage and direct it at the same time.

We found this lovely story at our local library, but you can also find it on Amazon, here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Review - D.W.'s Guide to Perfect Manners

My kids all love the Arthur characters - books and videos. Does anyone know, by the way, what kind of animal Arthur et al. are supposed to be? Just curious...if you know please leave it in a comment, because I haven't the foggiest. We had lots of rainy days this past winter and at our school the policy on rainy days is that the kids go to the library to watch a video during lunch recess. This is where the child learned about Arthur, and she has been hooked ever since. The twins also like him, so that's a bonus. It's always nice when we can find something to agree on.D.W, in case you don't know, is Arthur's little sister.

We found D.W.'s Guide to Perfect Manners at the library, and although it was my little girl who picked it off the shelf, the child has also enjoyed reading it a few times. It is at just the right reading level for her (mid-1st grade), so that's a plus.There's something about finding a book with a character your child loves that also has a message that you as a parent love. It's a magical combination, and I think it is found in this little gem. The illustrations are typical Marc Brown - colorful and just enough detail to keep things interesting without being too overwhelming. The book follows D.W. through her day as she tries to have "perfect" manners. Everything from self care (washing, tooth brushing, wearing clean clothes, and combing your hair) to table manners and social skills is covered in a straightforward manner. Most of the manners are presented as positives (Do this...) rather than negatives (Don't do that...) but some negatives slip in. I know from personal experience how hard it is to put everything as a positive, but I think it is easier for young children and those with learning differences to hear what they should do. This is the one thing I am disappointed by in this book. The other thing I would probably clarify for a child is that the book talks about being "perfect" by which it means having good manners - it does not mean that the child can't make mistakes. This could be addressed on the page where D.W. says "Perfect people say 'I'm sorry' if they mess up or if they hurt someone..." Clearly (to me) the perfection here is in knowing that if you make a mistake you apologize, not that you won't make a mistake at all. Still for children it might be confusing to talk about being a "perfect" person. In fact, we have taught the child that the only Perfect Person is Jesus. I am pleased that the Arthur products include constructive interactions with adult characters. I've noticed a trend lately where children's shows and books seem to put the child character out there on their own to handle whatever conflict comes their way. It's nice to see a more realistic interaction where parents are a valuable and encouraging resource for their children.

Overall this book is a sweet way to reinforce good manners for your child, especially if they are attracted to these characters anyway.

Book Review - Sammy the Classroom Pet

Some time ago I decided I wanted to host our preschool's pet guinea pig for part of the Summer months. While I was thinking about it I spied this book at the library and brought it home to see if it sparked any interest with the kids. I had three pet guinea pigs when I was growing up (one at a time) and Sammy looked a little like my favorite one, who was named Charlie. It turned out to be a really good idea to get this book for a couple of reasons.

First, we did end up bringing home Pepper for at least a couple of weeks, so reading the book ahead of time heightened the kids interest in helping to take care of her. The first few weeks of Summer while we are decompressing from school and waiting for our Summer activities to start can be a little hard to keep fun. Pepper has added some real interest to our "hanging out at home" times.

Second, the story of Sammy is more than just a story. It weaves a lot of small animal care information into the story. It talks about the noises they make (WHEEP!!) and what they need in their cage. It talks about how excited they get, and how they are very social and love attention from their caregivers. It even talks about some of their favorite foods, which now has my kids searching the yard for dandelion leaves which are apparently a guinea pig delicacy. The illustrations are adorable, and the text is easy to read and understand. My struggling reader picked it up independently several times. She even read Sammy to Pepper. Fun!

Sadly Sammy had to return to the library today, and Pepper will only be with us for a short while, but I think together they have made a great impression on all of my kids, and made Summer very sweet.

Here's hoping I haven't fed the "can we get a pet" fire...not ready for that...yet.

Encouraging Reading and Writing

I love reading. I love writing. I have loved both for so long that I can't remember ever not loving them. I spent many hours during long hot car trips soaking up Nancy Drew and Charlotte's Web, Ramona, and Pippi, and whatever else I could get my hands on. There were days Mom begged us to go outside because my brother and I had settled in to good books and didn't want to put them down. I wrote my first poem when I was five and only struggled a little with writing in college when I had to write papers on books that I didn't really care much about like Thucydides and Ulysses.

I always imagined that my own kids would also love reading and writing, that it would come naturally, and that the simple act of having good books around for them to read would be sufficient. I actually started collecting children's books long before I had children...during my grad school days I signed up for a Dr. Seuss reading club (made up a kid just for fun) so I had a good set of Dr. Seuss, Berenstain Bears, and other easy readers on my shelf already when my oldest daughter was born. Of course I had never particularly imagined having a child with language delays, motor skill delays, or self-regulation issues, all of which have impacted her interest in and aptitude for reading and writing.

I am by no means an expert in early childhood literacy, but I think we've done a few things right in this area. One really key thing is to keep it fun, because if it's not enjoyable then it loses half of the point, in my opinion. Reading and writing require real effort for my daughter, so if she loses the reward of having fun while she's doing it then in the end it is just work - ugh.

Have good reading materials available - I already mentioned our collection of children's books. We keep these and several kid friendly magazines available on low tables and bookshelves at all times. Often this means I'm picking up books, and stacking them again, but if my kids have been looking at books it is worth the extra effort for me.

Visit your library often - We have a great public library with good programs for our kids. There are story times and craft times, and the children's librarian is so friendly and talented with the kids. We go even when there aren't story times because it's free (unless I'm late returning a book) and it gives us somewhere to go. The kids each pick a book and a video to take home. My oldest has been complaining lately that she doesn't get to go as often, so I think we'll head there some on the weekends soon, too.

Read to them - We read a minimum of one story per kid every night before bed. No matter how late it is. No matter what else has happened that day. They pick the story. Now that my oldest is reading a little on her own we ask her to read at least some part of the story - sometimes a page or two, sometimes every other page, sometimes the whole thing depending on her willingness. Remember it's supposed to be fun.


Think outside the book - There are lots of "environmental" texts available to read. We read signs, receipts, mail, shirts, and grocery lists. Likewise we write notes, lists, names, and menus. Just look around - there's a lot to read and write!

Use the computer - My daughter loves Starfall, a phonics-based reading program with games and art activities. Our school also uses Lexia. She also likes getting on the word processing software and writing cards and notes there. Anything that gets her practicing sounding out words and building sentences is open game in my book.

Be a good example - This is one area that I have no problem modeling for my daughter. I still love a good book, when I have time to read them. It's important to show that reading is not just work, that it can be a fun activity, too.

What ideas do you have for making reading and writing fun?

DVD review - Scholastic Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics

In retrospect this set of DVDs was one of the best Christmas gifts we received last year. Thanks to my dear Sister-in-Law we now have hours of enjoyable classic children's literature on video. Less than two months of shopping days left, you know, so if you're looking for a good gift idea...I think the link above is the set we have, but if not it is similar enough to be equally well received.

We try not to let the children watch "a lot" of "TV". When we do it is always pre-recorded so that it comes to a definite end and there's less inclination to watch "just one more show." Now that my littles are in pre-school three days a week, we are watching even less, but it is still my go to when it's time to make dinner, or work on some project and the children are bouncing off the walls and each other. We also have a DVD player in our mini-van, and while we aren't doing much driving these days, when we do drive it is usually a 20 minute or so jaunt one way. Honestly I'd rather not break out the DVD player except for longer trips, but I have to admit that sometimes these family drives are an opportunity for adult conversation in front while the kids watch a video in the back. We also usually try to stick to "educational" shows...those that encourage some "interaction" etc, etc. Still with all of these conditions, boundaries, values and limits I feel nagging guilt sometimes that I am letting them have too much screen time.

Enter the Scholastic Treasury DVD set in our video library...and the guilt is considerably eased. Yes they are still watching "TV" but they are also being introduced to a lot of wonderful classic children's literature. Harold, as pictured above, with his magic purple crayon; Max, King of all Wild Things; George the Monkey; and Harry the Dirty Dog are just a few of the wonderful characters my children have met through these videos. Sometimes my daughter will see the book afterward at school or in the library and will be interested in reading it because she knows the story from the video. The stories are narrated and sometimes set to music. The images are often charming stills taken from the original books. The text of the story shows up in subtitles and changes color as the story is read so it encourages reading skills. They are pleasant for me to listen to. I've reacquainted myself with stories from my own childhood like "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears." (remember that one, Chris?) We keep several of these in the rotation on the DVD player in the minivan, and the stories are a good length for a longish errand. Many of these have become favorites. My daughter is particularly enchanted with the one that has primarily dog stories on it. I believe it is part of her ammunition to weaken my stance on waiting a few more years before we add a canine to our chaos. They appeal also to my little preschoolers, so in our experience 2.5 years and up find these quite fun.

The only odd thing about these is they interfere with the digital clock on the minivan DVD player. Normally after you start playing a DVD the time counter for the show is displayed for several seconds and then the display changes to the clock. With these DVDs unless you start from the beginning menu each time (not when we had to leave the car mid-story...un uh) the clock will not display. It's not great for when we're trying to get somewhere on time and I can't tell if I need to hit the fast lane or if we're actually prompt for a change. I can always glance at my watch instead, but it is less convenient. Somehow I doubt that other people will have this same issue...and seriously if that's the most negative thing I can say about these...really? If you don't already own them go get them. Follow the link to Amazon. Really.