Congratulations to Kayla, who worked VERY hard on her birthday to bring her firstborn into the world in the wee hours of the next morning. Leonydas Matthew, born to Kayla and Aaron on 26 May, is one cute baby, weighing in at 8lb 8.6oz and 22.25 inches long!
Today we stumbled upon an annual Aussie tradition, where mayors across the country all read the same book at the same time to children in their local libraries.
Little White Dogs Can't Jump is a picture book, but it struck me as one of those that's more for the parents than the kids. I couldn't help but feel sorry for all these mayors across the country simultaneously struggling to explain picture book humor line by line. Nevertheless, our mayor assured us that this was his favourite event of the year.
As we prepared to make crafts afterward, the mayor asked everyone who they would give their completed crafts to. "Mum" came the reply. Then the mayor asked his grandson who he would give his craft to. "Mum." So the mayor laughed and left without a paper dog to commemorate his visit.
Nikki amused me by suddenly identifying one of our houseplants as Jake the Pillow Snake. I caught the moment with my mobile phone.
It wasn't until I put the pictures together for this post that I realised how closely our dracaena resembles Jake as illustrated in Dr Seuss' book I Can Read With My Eyes Shut.
Nursery rhymes are "the bottom-most layer of the comfortable hereditary clutter of mottoes, proverbs, and half-remembered tales that we use to ornament conversations throughout our lives, knowing that they are common currency." - Iona Oprie
Nikki adores the funny sayings and memorable incidents recorded throughout. Michael enjoys the visual humor, for instance a rat shown walking from one relevant rhyme to another on the next page.
Nikki happily recites the rhymes for Michael, as in the video below.
She is also beginning to create scenarios of her own with the characters.
Fun-loving children + a book of silly rhymes = good times.
I picked up My First Dictionary this week at the library, and it has proven very popular with Nikki and Michael. We can treat each page as an I Spy game, or they can flip through the brightly illustrated pages and ask about what they see.
Since Vi needs so much hands on care during this newborn phase, I often have trouble making it through an entire narrative with my older children. This dictionary allows us to be much more flexible, yet still satisfy those times when we want to curl up together with a book.
Easy for me, interesting for my kids? That's my definition of a happy mama.
Michael is just starting to enjoy books for other reasons than how much fun they are to open, shut, and occasionally eat. Dear Zoo is a huge hit with him. He is very good at manipulating the flaps (all that opening and shutting!), and he enjoys discovering that the lion is too fierce!
Nikki's love affair with books is ongoing, and she has recently started quoting Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat at opportune moments. With a huge grin, she said "all that cold, cold wet day" when commenting on the chilly and rainy weather we had this morning.
Later on, I had been taking some video of her and Michael tumbling around in a tunnel when she ran over to the table, sat on an overturned chair and proceeded to read That's Not My Puppy from memory.
Ever since her debut , Nikki has enjoyed singing. Her lilting voice can be heard around the house all day long, and she also sings when we're out on walks. So far I haven't recognised any of the tunes, but today I was given a hint. Nikki paused in a song long enough to form her thumbs and index fingers into a diamond shape and come and show it to me. I immediately recognised the symbol from singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at Moms-and-Tots and Pop-in-and-Sing groups. I was impressed because I had never seen Nikki form a diamond before. But what really surprised me is that both groups are adjourned for the summer and the last time we sang that song was probably at Aunt Erin 's house.
I have been equally surprised at Nikki's new interest in sheet music. Off the top of my head, I can think of only two places where she has
witnessed notes on the page paired with people singing: the hymns at Keith and Tricia's wedding , and the little music sheets that accompany her xylophone/piano caterpillar . Yet even with so little to go on, whenever she catches a glimpse of notes on scales she bounces up and down, points to the notes, and signs 'song.' A good example is the set of notes on a pedestal next to a Hut-Zut in the Dr Seuss book I Can Read with my Eyes Shut .
Here is a picture of Nikki reading another Seuss favorite with her baba.
I am happy to encourage Nikki in her love for music, trusting that my lack of talent is offset with enthusiasm!
Today, while Nikki was colouring with washable markers , I kept Michael entertained by blowing on his tummy. Nikki was of course intrigued by the loud noises and giggles, and I explained that I was giving Michael raspberries . She came over and gave him a couple, although her lips hovered about three inches above his belly - which made Michael and I both giggle!
She returned to her drawing, but then she suddenly stood up and started babbling loudly, accompanied by emphatic arm movements. Then she ran over to her toy basket and rummaged through it, emerging triumphantly with her Jamberry book. She continued babbling and pointing excitedly to the front cover. I helped her flip through towards the end of the book and read aloud the lines of the poem that she had remembered:
"Raspberry rabbits Brassberry band Elephants skating On raspberry jam"
Today Nikki recognised her first letter. She was spending time with Ben this morning while I alternately dozed and fed Michael. When Ben got to the 'Mm' page in My First ABC Board Book that we borrowed from the library a few days ago, Nikki made the 'mma' sound before Ben did. Then she made the sound again while using the sign language for 'milk.'
So, today marks Nikki's first bit of reading/letter recognition. Ben and I are now firm believers in phonics .
A recent Time Magazine article
said that the child born first in a family has an IQ on average three
points higher than the next sibling, and this carries on for the next
sibling, having an IQ usually one point more than the next youngest
sibling. This may or may not be the case - my younger sister likely has
a higher IQ than I do, having achieved a better SAT score. Despite
this, Ben and I figure there is no harm in helping Nikki maximise
her potential so that her younger sibling has a chance at Missouri University of Science and Technology , too!
This morning, as he fed Nikki her breakfast, Ben started singing, 'new tooth, doo doo do doo do...' No wonder Nikki requested medicine twice yesterday! She had been working hard on that bottom front tooth.
Four new signs Nikki has added to her repertoire recently:
airplane
banana
book
snapping - since her snaps are silent so
far, they are more of a sign that she wants to see and hear others click their
fingers
This morning she signed 'want' 'more' 'book' to symbolise that she wanted a different book read to her rather than My Many Colored Days for a fourth time. Below, you can see pictures I took this morning of Nikki snapping and later requesting a book.
Aileen:
Simply beautiful - I have never heard this song before but it is so touchingly beautiful, all the more so at the image of Ben with two of his children
Poppa & Grammie:
Happy Father's Day to you, Ben. So grateful that you are following your heavenly Father's leading in love with your children!
Jen:
Happy Father's Day, Ben! The video is great and you are amazing for multi-tasking so well!
