Busy Lives

This is now a typical week for Jessicat, aged 6 months and 1 week:

Monday - am - see Sarah and Sean. He is still her favourite boyfriend, little minx!
pm - Stay and Play

Tuesday - Could be Baby Bounce and Rhyme at Keynsham library, or a meeting with Nanny, or a trip to feed the ducks. At the moment, this is most likely to be our free day.

Wednesday - Mornings are free; afternoons are devoted to Storytime at Wick Road library. A story, a craft activity and some singing, all for free. Libraries are fantastic!

Thursday - as of yesterday, Jessicat now goes to Jolly Babies, a music and playing class for the under 1s. In my opinion, not as good as Rhymetime, but still fun, and Jess loves the bubbles! I also enjoy having a chance to go to a different library and look round the shops at Broadwalk.

Friday - Rhymetime, followed by a trip to the library to choose our new books. Afternoons usually consist of a trip to the supermarket, to stock up with goodies for Dave and me for the weekend.

Back to the subject of children's books. I'm thinking of compiling a list of the top ten books that no baby should be without, based on my extensive experience of reading to Jess over the last 6 months. The list will comprise books that fit the following criteria:

1) Enjoyable for the baby - absolutely imperative
2) Bold, eye catching illustrations
3) Interesting text to read, preferably rhyming
4) Bearable to adults to read again and again
5) Make us want to explore more by that author

Watch this space. If you are a visitor to my blog, please leave any recommendations; I make a point of following up every comment or tip. Thank you.

Massive collection of new books

Ok, what have we got this week?

Hip Hip Hooray Helen Stephens
I Like Colours Barbara Jean Hicks
Peek-a-boo Jan Ormerod
Maisy Likes Playing Lucy Cousins
Shiny Seaside Helen Stephens
When I was a baby Deborah Niland
Where's Spot? Eric Hill
My Ladybird First Rhymes
Drift Upon a Dream - Poems for Sleepy Babies John Foster and Melanie Williamson

Plenty here for Jessicat and me to get our teeth into. This morning, I stumbled upon the website for Red House books. I am so tempted to go shopping, and given we are now down to one wage, this would be a bad idea. Common sense tells me we can get a fantastic range of books from our local library, but I know how lovely it is to have new books to hold, smell and savour. Will have a think over the weekend and decide if the purse strings can stretch to something that Jessicat might like to keep.

6 months and still surviving....

Yesterday Jessicat was 6 months old! Weirdly, she not only seems to be surviving my care, but actually thriving! Don't know if I could say the same for me and Dave though. Yesterday, Jess and I attended our first ever library storytime, and made a paper crocodile. I'm so pleased that we can attend events like this now with Jessicat and that she actually enjoys them. Today we are getting ready for Joan and Bernard's visit.

My reading adventures: What Mother's Do by Naomi Stadlen, and How to be Right by James Delinpole.

Progress update

Jessicat is cutting her first tooth: lower incisor! This might explain why she is hard to settle to sleep at the moment; I'm hoping this phase will pass quickly. Still not much progress with rolling from front to back. Strangely, all the books say that this should be easier for babies than rolling back to front. Hmmm...Jess clearly hasn't read the books! (Reminds me of how I used to read that newborns typically sleep for 16 hours plus a day. Yeah, right.)

Jess's favourite books this week are Emily Bolam's Peepo series. She actually anticipates the mirror ending, and begins giggling as soon as we reach the final page. Jessicat is really enjoying basic games of "boo" and "peepo" at the moment, so these books echo her interest, and luckily, we have been able to obtain the whole series from our library. When I give Jess her bottle, I am enjoying reading poems and nursery rhymes to her; it's funny how quickly you seem to memorise them.

On a serious note, like all parents, my heart and prayers go out to the parents of Madeleine McCann, let us hope for good news soon.

What about TV?

Bit of a dilemma for me, this one. I enjoy watching a small amount myself (current favourites are Casualty, Peep Show, Have I Got News for You) and am not in favour generally of a blanket ban on things, as I think this can actually have the opposite effect to that intended. But, but...I've read plenty of articles indicating that TV is bad for babies, and can create an environment where obesity, academic underachievement and aggression can flourish. So what to allow Jessicat to do?

Well, I've decided to opt for the middle ground, and set a few rules for her. A small amount ie 20 minutes or so, in front of Baby TV to allow me to get some housework done is deemed ok. Jess does seem a bit mesmerized by it, and sometimes I need the breathing space to catch up with chores. But, no TV on in the background all day - we are usually too busy doing other things anyway - , no unsuitable TV that is aimed at adults or older children, and absolutely no TV in the bedroom. Ever. End of.

This week's reading includes:
Wee Willie Winkie and other nursery rhymes (illustrations by Lucy Cousins)
Maisy's Bedtime - Lucy Cousins (Jessicat loves the bold and colourful illustrations, and there just the right amount of text for a young baby)
The Gingerbread Man - a Ladybird Touch and Feel book
Spot Goes to the Park - Eric Hill (again, bold and clear pictures for young ones)
Wobble Bear - Ian Whybrow and Caroline Jayne Church (I love the rhymes)

Enjoying our books...

We had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. Jessicat is now the proud owner of a luminous pink stroller, which means more freedom to get around in the car, as it fits easily into the boot. We also bought her some blocks with letters and pictures on them. I would like to report that this led to an instructive and educational afternoon for Jessicat, but alas, Dave and I were mildly drunk and used them instead to see what swear words we could make. It's not big and it's not clever....

All three of us have spent lots of time reading. My latest book is The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, who is one of my favourite writers, and with whom I must credit any knowledge at all I can claim about Tudor history. Dave is well into his Harlan Coben. As for Jess's books, well, she is continuing to love her textured board books, and we have ordered a load more by Emily Bolam and Helen Stephens to satisfy her obsessi0n. My love affair with the latest Divine Comedy and Amy Winehouse albums also continues apace; what a culture vulture I am!?!!

It's Friday so it must be new books day!

Usual trip to library after Rhymetime to choose some new reading matter to keep Jessicat and me going over the Bank Holiday weekend. What have we got?

Eat Up Dudley - David Wojtowycz
Twinkly Night - Helen Stephens
Who Are You? Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter
Tickle Tickle - Helen Oxenbury
Boom, Baby, Boom, Boom - Margaret Mahy
Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones - Claire Freedman

A pretty varied selection here I think. Over the last couple of days, Jess has really enjoyed Peekaboo Jungle (Emily Bolam) and Funny Sunny Garden (Helen Stephens). She loves to feel different textures with a clumsy, open, starfish type hand, and it's lovely to be able to point to the bit on the page and see her place her open palm over it. Books with mirrors are also coming into their own at the moment, as this always makes her smile. And, as always, we have our nursery rhymes and songs to keep us entertained in checkout queues and other dull moments. I don't care if we attract funny looks from the other shoppers; I bet they just want to listen in...

Still no luck on rolling front to back, which is frustrating. But Jessicat is starting to babble, a new development as of today. So exciting to think that this is the precursor of proper speech.

Please say hello...

Looking at the site monitor, I see the blog is getting a few more visitors than I expected, including some international ones! Please leave a comment to say hello, make a comment or recommend a book for Jessicat (or us!) I'm always on the look out for new books to read with Jess, and would particularly love to hear from more writers, illustrators etc.

Barefoot Books

http://www.barefoot-books.com/uk/site/pages/home.php

Dave took Jessicat to the library last week and chose 2 books from the Barefoot range, There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch (Clare Beaton) and Where's the Cat? (Stella Blackstone and Debbie Harter). These are both board books with bright, arresting pictures, and I like the idea of a book company that celebrates art and story and the sheer variousness of things (what's that Louis McNeice poem; is it Snow?) Yesterday, at Stay and Play, I picked up The Very Hungry Caterpillar for Jessicat. Nice book - but I can't help being put off it by knowing that this is Dubya's favourite book ever. Hmmm...............

Jessicat continues to do more interesting things. This week she has discovered she can roll from her back onto her tummy. Great - the only problem is, she can't roll back, then gets extremely frustrated, so Dave and I are up and down to keep turning her back. Sarah was kind enough to lend us a high chair, so as of yesterday, Jess now sits with us at the table for meals.

As for my own reading, well, the illnesses of the last week have meant that I'm yearning for a comfort, familiar read. So, hello Monday's Child by Louise Bagshawe, a great read for times like this.