Kaleidoscope

We spent an impromptu morning at the park this Saturday, where Arlo spent most of the time going backwards and forwards inside this green hexagon. We followed his hexagon adventures with a visit to the library. I have to say, the library was AMAZING and I can't believe we've never been - it's not our local one which we've visited a few times, it's the 'main' one I suppose, probably the biggest on The Island. It was brilliant to have a gazillion new books to choose from, as well as some massive bean bags to snuggle into and make a little reading nest together. It still amazes me how happy Arlo is to sit on my lap and read books together. He never seems to tire of it. We spent a good 20 minutes quietly reading together and his concentration didn't waver - it's something we've done since he was really little so it's probably a comforting place to be for him.

Other things he loved about the library: playing hide and seek behind the rows of books, sitting at the little child-sized table and chair to do some crayoning, discovering Sticklebricks for the first time. We will be going back soon for more of all the above for sure.

Friday I'm in love... with the favourite reads of a little bookworm

When I wrote this post a few weeks ago I was worried about ever getting round to reading any of the books that I've been stockpiling, waiting to be read. But that doesn't mean that no reading is happening in our house - in fact, we have a mini bookworm in our midst. Reading is probably the first thing Arlo does when he wakes up in the morning, and one of the last too. The way he pours over every page of his favourite books is such a lovely thing to watch - it's something I want to nuture and grow in him so that he always loves to read.

So, in a bit of a contrast to my last post on books, here's a selection of books that we just can't put down at the moment:

1. One of the prettiest books we own, It's absolutely beautiful, full of colourful illustrations and cut out letters that take you through every letter of the alphabet - lots of pages to be turned which means it keeps Arlo occupied for longer than ten seconds at a time.
2. This simple book is one we keep coming back to. Raised circles in block colours help Arlo's little fingers count out each number and it's lovely and chunky so it's withstood lots of vigorous page turning so far!
3. An oldie and SUCH a goodie. In fact, this was a favourite of mine when I was little. My sister bought this for Arlo for Xmas, and it was such a joy to read again and rediscover. Janet and Allan Ahlberg just write the best books, full of beautiful illustrations that capture family life years ago.
4. Another gift - this time from Arlo's Grandma Wild, who gave him this because it was one of Alex's favourites when he was little. The story's brilliant - this one is more wordy than his usual books so it's a good sleepy bedtime read.

So even though I haven't got round to reading any of my planned books so far, I'm acting out my reading dreams vicariously through Arlo The Little Bookworm.