AND NOW SHE'S 3!

By 4pm it was the 15th in China, so we started to celebrate, Alice helped me to sing 'Happy Birthday' and she even changed the lyrics to 'Happy Birthday to ME!' I put a candle on a cupcake and she blew it out several times with a large grin on her face the whole time. Then she opened a present (of my choosing), instantly she looked to see if it was a 'baby' (as the main pressie I'd left that one for tomorrow!) and she quickly and sadly decided that it wasn't, but her sadness was quickly replaced by big grins as she realised that it was a witch's costume - I was going to call it a naughty fairy, but she already knew what it was!!

In the second photo she's reading one of my favourite books - The Gruff@lo, it took a long time for her to warm to it but now she loves it as much as me.

BOOKS UPDATED!

Only 1 comment recommending books , but so many! Thanks Snick(typed too soon, thanks P as well!)

For those of you who don't read the comments, here are her recommendations:
Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.
Polar Bear Polar Bear What do you hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
Panda Bear Panda Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
Ask Mister Bear by Majorie Flack
Bears by Ruth Krauss
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Bill Martin Jr.
Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.
Chicken Soup with Maurice Sendak
A Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown
Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle
The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins
Fortunately by Remy Charlip
The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
Henny Penny by Paul Galdone
The House That Jack Built by Rodney Peppe
If It Weren't for You by Charlotte Zolotow
I Was Walking Down the Road by Sarah Barchas
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
I Will Not Go to Market Today by Harry Allard
The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy Carlsrom
Jump, Frog, Jump by Robert Kalan
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Old Mother Hubbard by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins
One Monday Morning by Uri Schulevitz
Over in The Meadow by Olive Wadsworth
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer
The Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel
Round as a Pancake by Joan Sullivan
Someday by Charlotte Zolotow
The Teeny Tiny Woman by Barbara Seuling
Three Blind Mice by John Ivimey
The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
This Old Man: The Counting Song by Robin Koontz
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
What Do You Do, Dear by Sesyle Joslin
The Wheels on the Bus by Mary Ann Kovalski
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
Where's Spot? by Eric Hill
Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema

OBSESSED AND GETTING TOUGHER!

'No Bertie, that's Dirty Bertie!'

Alice's favourite phrase from her favourite book. The book (Dirty Bertie) lives by Mummy's bed for morning wake-up and bedtime stories. Alice loves to finish each page with the key phrase, 'No Bertie, that's Dirty Bertie!' It's very sweet to hear her say it - she consistently misses out that in the phrase.

Unfortunately Alice didn't get DB tonight as she wouldn't co-operate. Alice is rarely naughty but she is very often slow to do as she is asked, so I've resolved to tell her the sanctions and be stricter. Consistency isn't a problem (teaching experience helps) but seeing the need for change is what I find more difficult. She wasn't happy at not having DB read at bedtime, she kept looking at me and saying, 'Good girl!' so I kept reiterating that if she continued to be a good girl then she could have DB read in the morning. Eventually she understood but not before she tried out hysterics - you'd think that I'd never said no before!

The other books (which she didn't lose this evening) that she loves are Elmer and (my favourite) Owl Babies. OB and DB are both successful for Alice as they have a repetitive phrase that she can join in with - and I'd love more suggestions for other books like this please.

OUR FAMILY SUMMED UP IN A PHOTO?

This was supposed to be a thank you post - and it is!

This book was from O and his Mum (another teacher). She took 'pot luck' and bought Alice a book as a birthday present.

She couldn't have done any better if she'd known every book in Alice's library! I love this author, we already have the ABC book and now we're very grateful to have the counting one too (though not the one from this link, but very similar!) I love the detail in the illustrations and the subtle ways in which the arrangement of the book works to bring the end of the story back to where it began, wonderful.

I took several photos of her engrossed in this book but this one seems to represent our family very well - anyone know why?

MY BOOKWORM!

A NEW COOKERY BOOK

. . . I love them . . . there's a new one out by one of my fav cooks . . . should make Christmas interesting! Any ideas?

LOVES 'EM!

Still obsessed by books - reading them and crawling with them (this crawling technique is quite common with an object in each hand!)

SO SURE OF HERSELF!

So sure of what she want . . .

. . . so determined to get what she wants . . .

. . . so focused on getting it . . .

. . . no matter what the obstacles!

Determined to get the books - so many that we now have a 'book bucket'.

This evening I selected a few (7) to read together. She chose the book from the pile and handed it over. I read, Alice turned the pages (hardly needs prompting!) Then I put them to one side. Tonight one book got in the way, so I moved it to the 'read' pile. After the others had been read, Alice climbed across me, sifted through the pile and found the only book we hadn't read - she knew exactly what she was doing - I'm very impressed! No flies on my Alice!