Random Daycare Daily Report #5

Sophie has been so chatty and friendly today. All through lunch she kept looking up and smiling and saying "hi!" :) Sophie really enjoyed taking a stroller walk around Olsen Park. She kept pointing to the geese on the water ("duck!") and the trucks on the highway. We also read Oh David! (again) and on the dirty diaper page, Sophie put her hand over her nose and said "P.U.!"

Yes, Sophie loves the Oh David! series of books by David Shannon. We're a little disturbed since it's all about a rambunctious, mischievous child called David who gets himself into all sorts of trouble. But she loves it when we exaggerate all the different naughty things he does- like run around without his pants on, spilling milk on the floor, dragging muddy shoes all across the living room, etc... Right now, we're reading No, David! and It's Christmas, David!, both of which Sophie can read (or make us read to her) over and over again, sometimes, back to back. She remembers where certain pictures are on the page, will point to them and label ("dog!"), and knows to wait till we're done reading before she turns each page, which makes me think she's really listening to and retaining the way the story develops.

In the last two weeks or so, Sophie has started to show more interest in books with longer narratives and a more sustained storyline. She still enjoys her board books like Hug and Let's Play, but she's also developed a little more concentration to sit and listen to longer stories. These days, our bedside table has become a mini-library, with a stack of her favorite books that we throw on the bed to read every morning when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. She'll pick whichever books she wants, says either "read" or "book", and then crawls into one of our laps and tucks herself in there, ready to be read to. It's adorable, really :) Some of our favorites right now:
- Old Bear: a beautifully illustrated story about hibernation and the changing seasons. The colors are truly stunning in this one and Sophie likes pointing out to things like "flowers" and "trees".
- Llama, Llama, Red Pajamas: I can read this story back to back four times over and Sophie would still ask for "more!" I think she identifies with the impatient baby llama who yells for his Mama after she has put him to bed.
- Knuffle Bunny: We've always loved Mo Wilems' Pigeon books and Knuffle Bunny is just as gleeful and delightful. Sepia-tone photographs of a Brooklyn neighborhood provide the backdrops for his hand-drawn artwork and the story, the perfect capture of toddler distress :)
- Froggy Gets Dressed: I get so thirsty reading this because it has to do with a little frog who tries several times to dress appropriately for playing in the snow. It involves putting on all manner of winter clothing which starts to become a mouthful after about six pages...
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: Jude often sings this story (he makes the tune up) which is wonderfully hilarious in and of itself :) It does get a little long towards the end but Sophie will sit through it and sometimes laugh at the parts where we laugh out loud too.