This morning (while I was having breakfast in bed 
) Big and I had a chat about reading. I said that I was a bit upset that none of the books I’d bought her seemed to be things she really enjoyed and I wanted to know what she liked so that I could get things that suited her better. We went through a pile of her picture books with me explaining that I kind of thought she might enjoy things with a bit more story and a few less pictures.
She told me that she likes the pictures and I talked about how with books with more story she was supposed to see them in her own head. We discussed how when she listens to tapes she has to see the pictures herself, and she hadn’t really thought about that working for books. So she went off to her room and fetched Jasmine the Present Fairy (Rainbow Magic S. - The Party Fairies)
Looks like I’d better do some fast shopping - she took it up to bed with her tonight, and there are only two chapters left now 
She’s now decided that picture books are for babies and she wants ones with stories in. When she gets hold of an idea, she really gets hold of it.
Other stuff we did today included more crafts - worked our way through one heart from this tutorial to make a necklace. I’ve done another one tonight, trying out the seed beads we bought a few trays of. Think we could do with getting a few more though, amazed at how many we used in just one heart. (We have lots of pictures of Big making her heart, and even more of the process of me making mine, as I’m hoping she might manage to make some more tomorrow.)
My parents popped around, and Big did a demo of parchment craft for them - we framed it and sent them away with a lily picture for their house. Small bounced excessively while they were here, and moaned a little about the lack of television - generally speaking though he’s taking to the lack of it very easily. I was hoping he might join in with some beading, but he doesn’t seem inclined, although he’s very happy to wear the bracelets we make for him.
And now I must off to bed. Early morning tomorrow, as I’m going up to help with the office move.
Oh, and I nearly forgot - I did a whole pile of blogring admin and added a couple of ppl to the ring. Have a wander around and see if you can find them 
24 Comments
ROFL with the Fairy books…. Boarders currently have them on offer (buy 2 get one free?) which makes them fractionally cheaper there than on Amazon assuming you have one close enough. Aprilia loves those wretched books (just wish she would read them for herself!!)
the bookpeople have two sets of them…
Book people, very dangerous - sets so cheap but that is so tempting! Love that stage when kids really get into reading longer books…
We have loads that we could pass on to you! Please please take them off my hands! Utter rubbish, but hey, if they *want* to read them, who are we to complain?
red house also have a set. rather a lot of ours currently out on loan or i’d offer
but we can loan the bigger ones 9several stories in one) when you get there - and there is a nice website the girls like.
love the necklace, i used to make those. i’ve currently got a customer asking me to sell seed beads, but i can’t face the thought!
btw, the blogring seems to be a little bit broken, if you’re clicking round from the end to the beginning something’s wrong somewhere as it skips a whole load. Don’t normally notice stuff like that but I’m doing boring photocopying at work and clicked round to amuse myself while I was working!
Wow! That beading link is a bit good! Looks really complicated at first, but reading into it makes it just look a bit time consuming, but easy
This is unrelated to this post but your technorati search does not return the agile post I remember reading.
I found a Sheffield Uni study of extreme programming I thought you would like to read.
Yeah, I haven’t looked for a week or so, but there’s a strange subring that has formed if you go one way through it - someone must have the wrong number in the ring code.
And there’s no way I’d spend my money on those fairy books
If I can complain about my children’s choice of activity, television viewing, clothes, etc, then I can certainly complain about their choice of reading material - just because it’s *reading* doesn’t make it ok. IMO 
Ooops! Just clicked Previous from here, and going through the ring backwards, you jump from 74 to 5! Persume that’s not supposed to happen …
pREsume! My fingers are frozen.
Had a bit more time to sit down …. going forwards you jump from 74 to 11! Don’t suppose that’s by design either
And there are a couple that could do with hibernating … are you in need of more deputies? 
grin… me, i worship the release that the fairy books brought from drudgery!
I do know what you mean, Alison, about reading material, but fwiw those fairy books have got Abbie into the *habit* of reading, which is worth something in my book - given that before she got into those she really wasn’t reading much at all.
I think it depends on the reader. The habit of reading and enjoying a book has to start somehwere, and if its fairies…
I can’t wait for SB to get to my8-12 reading - the rosemary sutcliffe, the bagthorpes! all sorts of ace books i have in a box. but if its fairies in the interim, I’m sure I’ll survive!
oh, and the book people are deceptively cheap. I did my once a year order, and still ordered more than I was going too after taking half the order back out of the basket.
That is a nice-to-have breakthrough
never sure if emails between me and you get through Jax, so did you get my mail?!
OMG, not the fairy books!!! Romy started all the way back with Ruby the sodding red fairy and I’ve read every single one to her since. She’s perfectly capable of reading them herself, but, no! Apparently I ‘do good voices’, lol. Why oh why did I have to start with the fairy/goblin voices??? Did you know that this so-called ‘Daisy Meadows’ is actually a team of writers? That’s how they can keep churning them out at such a rate! And they’re all the saaaaaaammmme!!! Can you tell I’m going mad? ;o)
Well, I’m clearly far too hard a mother then, lol! I only read things to my kids books that I like or think I’ll like, and I only buy them things I like too
They can spend their own time and money on whatever they like of course.
there is absolutely no way I would read fairies to her, but given that it’s got her reading books (well, only one so far, but hey, I can hope).
I’ll respond to some more of this in a blogpost as it’s got me thinking.
I refuse to read fairies or Enid Blyton. We own one fairies book here but Big has currently borrowed it, having finished her own last night, but C bought it with some birthday money, so I thought that was fairy nuff.
*groan*
giggle.