When E. was a baby I wanted to write a post about what books we are using every 6-12 months. I didn't. I feel it as a pity so I got a second chance with Baby Sis. Here it comes. The books we've been using in L.'s first year.
What you'll be reading about:
cloth books
educational board books
touchy-feely books
noisy books
lift the flap books
+1 extra surprise
0-6 months
We mainly "read" cloth books. Or while Baby Sis was lying awake she was looking at the black and white images, like in this one. I also pointed at the pictures and said what was seen (daddy, baby, heart etc.)
It's also important to mention that the Velcro on the book is TASTY. 😂
IKEA cloth books are great. Apart from looking at them I could make up a very simple story on the basis of the pics. They're also interactive (you can pull out a rabbit from a black top hat)
Drugstore (DM) cloth books that crackle and rustle:
Maisy's bedtime - We usually have a look at this booklet before bath time.
Ladybird series: Baby touch
The 2 on the top were E.'s favourite as a baby
E. as a baby, "reading"
L.'s favourite: Wiggle Jiggle Ladybird
It's not an advertisement but I love Usborne books. Baby books by Usborne are simple, have great contrast and the images are cute. The touchy-feely books are not only pleasure to look at but also exciting for little fingers to touch the varied surfaces. Even my 4,5-year old loves to paw them. Here are what we have:
This is not the touchy and feely kind
Baby Sis is examining the fluffy bunny
6-12 months:
We on reading the books above and introduced some new ones:
Noisy books are number one (not so amusing for parents though after 15-20 minutes of quacking)
Old MacDonald will be a Christmas present
Lift the flap books are also fun to read with your little ones. My only problem is that they can get damaged easily as my kids try to peep under the flaps. Our favourites are the following:
The traditional song with a little twist. Here is a review from goodreads that I could have written:
"This time five monkeys are silly and not just mischievous. They jump on the bed of course, then they eat on the bed, swing on the bed, slide on the bed, and then spin on the bed.
Great fun for little ones and they love holding the cover with the monkeys heads made out of plastic for them to feel!"
L. loves to put her little finger through the holes. Sometimes a sing the original version. Sometimes with the funny activities like jumping,, swinging, sliding etc.
I hope you could find some ideas about what to read with your little one. Feel free to share what books you're reading with this age group.
I haven't really been able to write blog posts lately thanks to Baby Sis, who has turned out to be a "sticker child". I thought separation anxiety starts around 8-9 months but no... it started when she was born.
Our 2nd 3 months went almost the same as the first 3, though everything seemed a little easier, like feeding, sleeping, daily routine etc. and it's true for our English usage too.
But let's not run ahead. Here is an update on the little lady:
She is about 65.5 cms long and 6.0 kgs. She is very active, moving around all the time even in her sleep. Boobs mean the world to her and whenever she starts crying she can be easily calmed on the boob. If she doesn't get what she wants the screaming gets louder and loader and more desperate. She still doesn't and can't drink from a baby bottle and use a dummy. As opposed to her Big Sister who really liked both and wasn't fascinated by the boob that much. (This is where I'll stop comparing the girls)
I can no longer watch TV, read or chat with someone while she's being fed as she gets distracted by EVERYTHING. She only allows me to sit quietly and do nothing. She even hits my phone out of my hand (she might have eyes on the back of her head...)
L. turned to her tummy just one day before her 5th month old birthday. Ever since then she's been rolling all around. So much that one Monday she fell from our bed... on her head. In the morning rush we looked away for half a minute and she rolled like 1.80 metres and fell. We spent the whole day at the emergency room where several examinations were made (X-ray, sonogram etc) and luckily she was fine. Since then we've been putting her on the floor all the time.
If she's on her back she's kicking like a maniac. So sweet. She also noticed that she's got two feet and LOVES them. Watching them, chewing her toes and comparing them with her hands.
I've always been against sleeping together with a child (I was mainly scared of lying on her, but I also find it unhealthy for the marriage) but Baby Sis begs to differ. She is unwilling to stay in her crib, even if I wait until she falls asleep. As soon as her little bum touches the bed and she can't feel body warmth close to her she's up screaming.
Daytime sleeping is done in an ergonomic baby carrier (Magyarinda) on Mummy during the week and on Daddy at weekends (Sometimes I wish I could buckle her up on the dog. ;) ) Once in a while she falls asleep in the pram, but only for 20-30 minutes. We're still practising it, though.
on holiday
She's got 2 working modes: smiley or whiny. If she's happy and contented she's ALWAYS smiley, she even smiles at strangers, which might change in the near future. She's very easy to cheer up. Whenever she sees her Big Sister her little face brightens immediately. She loves chatting with everybody, looking at the books on the book shelves (or on the floor), watching me drink from a bottle, slapping her hanging toys on the play mat and last but not least screaming.
The update got a little too long, but here comes what we do in English.
We regularly try to go to MEC (Mums' English Club), where L. either sleeps or is on the boob or both at the same time. Okay, every now and then she plays with her new buddies.
I started to introduce her board books after the cloth books. You can find a list of baby books we've been using ever since E. was born. She seemed interested and enjoyed looking at the colourful pages.
I try to be a lot in English when E.'s home from the kindergarten. Baby Sis listens to our conversations but surprisingly E. talks to her sister in Hungarian. I always have to remind her that she also needs to talk to L. in English. But E. entertains her a lot.
She makes Baby Sis's mobile move
E. involves L. in her doctors pretend play
Reads her books
sisterly bonding
She tells her rhymes:
I myself try to read them in English (simple stories and rhymes) as much as I can:
Nursery rhymes after feeding
Sign language is another topic that I'd like to write a seperate blog post about. Mainly I use Makaton signs both in English and Hungarian (the same sign for the same idea) but also some American Signs and some of our own as well. Signing to babies help them to connect the spoken languages. If I say "enni" in Hungarian I show the same sign as I say "eat" in English, just to give you an idea.
I still do a lot of singing and I tell her several nursery rhymes. Her favourites are: Golden slumbers (and other lullabies) and Open, Shut them either when I do it with my hands or I move her little legs.
She also enjoys the following: Finger family
Ba-ba black sheep
Humpty Dumpty
You're my Sunshine
Ride a cock horse I love you, you love me
This little pig went to the market
Round and round the garden
Head shoulders knees and toes Here we go looby loo
Two little eyes:
When we play together it involves some balloons
some musical instruments like maracas and jingle bells
Some balls: colours and sizes
Sensory bottles for babies (later I'll add a post on this topic too):
Apart from playing together in English, I should also mention the everyday activities, housework (just like with E.) we do in English when we are just the two of us at home like unloading the dishwasher, hanging the clothes to dry, going to the bakery or to the market. Of course, L. just watches me do the chores but I hope later on she'll join in.
I report everything to her. I tell her all the time what I'm doing or where we are going. Sometimes I feel like I talk to myself all the time but then she gives me a smile as if she understood everything.
It seems Easter time is the busiest in our life as I'm always late with the summary of our celebrations. This is the same this year too. It's June already and I've just finished writing about our Easter 2016.
A few days before Easter we decorated our egg tree (catkins twigs). E. was very excited when we opened the Eater decoration boxes. She, almost all by herself, did the whole decoration. (Baby Sis was helping her out with some cooing)
She also found some earlier egg matching activity I had written about in an earlier post. Of course, she needed to do it quickly.
At this time we had been painting eggs for weeks. Most of them were blown-out eggshells therefore rather fragile. (I broke some of them after Easter time).
We also prepared some Styrofoam eggs as well. First, we painted them red, then, as E. was quite fascinated by the pins in my sewing kit box, I let her decorate her red egg with multicoloured pins.
As always E. (and this time Baby Sis, too) was sprinkled by some family members (Daddy and Grandpa) as well as Godfather in the morning. She was well prepared in her rabbit costume.
Sprinkling from Daddy
Kisses to Grandpa
Later on we went to the playground. Daddy ran ahead and hid some presents in the grass while we were slowly walking towards the area. By the time we arrived we saw Daddy quarreling with an 8-10 year boy and his mum as the boy had taken away and almost opened one of the eggs. Nice beginning... Luckily everything was calm and quiet when we arrived and E. could look for her presents.
collecting
a bit of reading
finishing the egg hunt with swinging
This year these were the presents:
a Green eggs and ham By Dr. Seuss
a Shopkins egg
a Smarties egg
a Hello Kitty dining room set
a tiny stapler
hair bobbles hidden in a plastic egg (not in the picture)
gummies hidden in a plastic egg (not in the picture)
All in all, our Easter was great with lots of Hungarian and a little English, but we all enjoyed ourselves.
