Bits and oops

Fridays tend to be hectic as we have Sing and Sign in a morning and then a drop-in in the afternoon so with lunch and a nap if we're lucky there's not much free time in the day. I'm amazed though at Isaac's reaction to when he's been rushing around a lot. When we came home he went straight for his art box - it's been nearly a week since he's shown any interest in it. He's learnt to take the lid off his pens (and can put them back on again although often he forgets this bit) so I just took the lid off his box and opened the drawing book and let him get on with it. 

This is what he made. 

I'm trying not to direct his art now that he knows how to make marks on paper and this is the result - a totally self-directed bit of scribbling and sticking. It didn't hold his attention for very long but seemed to be a good way of grounding himself after a day rushing around. He went through a phase of using drawing to express himself when he was upset or frustrated and I must remember to offer it to him more often when he's struggling.

We've got a lot of new books recently and have progressed more to the story books after months of board books. So here are a few of the current favourites. 

I remember reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt a lot with our godson Jake (now 9) and hating it but after a long break I'm loving it again. Where the Wild Things Are is a masterpiece and a great example of children's play being used to help them work out issues of control and power. Click Clack Moo is very silly and funny and results in lots of random mooing! The book in the top right is One City, Two Brothers which is another Barefoot Books book. The illustrations are beautiful and while it's a long story for a 19 month old Isaac seems to really like it. 

This is my current pile of library books. I'm currently loving Cecelia Ahern's books, they're whimsical and have a touch of magic/fairy tale about them. The one I've just read If You Could See Me Now is my favourite so far of hers. I've got back into reading crime fiction again after feeling a bit weak and feeble since I was pregnant about violence and the darker storylines. I used to read pretty much nothing but crime but now need to intersperse it with lighter reading. Chick Lit is a whole new adventure for me and I'm finding it a mixed bag. Most of it whilst ok to read at the time just leaves me feeling hollow and sad that we seem not to have progressed from the boy meets girl view of women but there are some good writers in and amongst the dross and when it comes down to it I just want something light and unchallenging most of the time. 

Isaac's been loving his wooden bike and has been scooting around on it a lot. I was just taking a picture of it to post on the blog when he fell off. He's got a bit of a bruise on the back of his head but a reading of a book or 3 calmed him down.