New baby books

Inspired by an old friend who has just told me her second baby is on the way (these things always excite me incredibly !)  I thought I would pop up a few books that we loved while preparing J for the arrival of her sister.

My Baby Sister by Emma Chichester Clark.  I adore Emma Chichester Clark.  ('We' love you, Blue Kangaroo.)  This book features some of her new characters, Humber and Plum.  This is an excellent book.  It centres around Humber's Mum going into hospital to have a baby and how he misses Mum when Dad and Gran don't know what his normal routine is.  Then when Mum returns it takes Humber a while to get used to baby sister, in fact he even wants to send her back, but while Mum is sleeping he plays with her and looks after her alone and realises he loves her and okay, she can stay.  My quick summary doesn't really do this book justice, its lovely and fresh and a perfect introduction to tell an older child a sibling is on the way.

Share! by Anthea Simmons. We absolutely loved this book.  Its very light and funny and Juliana really enjoyed it and still mentions the book even though it was one we borrowed from the library.  The book focuses on sharing with a new sibling.  "I love my fluffy teddy, but baby wants him too...Share! says Mummy, so I do"  It also lets the older sibling know that sometimes baby might not understand, might chew things they shouldn't etc.  There are lots of good preparation talking points in this book! The last bit of 'sharing' in the book is my favourite and is the bit J still mentions, she often quotes the book to her sister and laughs... "Shall we share our Mummy?... so we do"

for the love of hand-me-downs

Our local shops are so full to brimming with the brand new but incredibly cheap things we need and don't need that I am often more inclined towards a hand-me down, a secondhand, a used or previuosly loved item... 
Around half of J's toy boxes are filled with toys from my parents attic or charity shops or other hand-me-downs.  These, strangely are the most played with toys.  Do toys grow more intriguing once used by another child?  Do hand-me-downs have a little aura about them?  I think so.  Perhaps hand-me-downs feel unique as they stand alone, not chosen from a row of identical toys on the shelf?

Today has been a hand-me-down sort of day.  First some books, 10p each from the library sale.  Things like Goldilocks & the Tree Bears by Lauren Child and Polly Borland (which we already own in hardback but now I don't have to worry about it being torn!)  J loves the Goldilocks story and this version is particularly well done, quirky and each photograph illustration is exquisite in tiny, pretty detail; little teddy, little apples, little bowls of real porridge, little red shoes.  For 10p I feel like I stole it.  We also picked up Monkey & Me by Emily Gravett (we already own the brilliant Orange Pear Apple Bear, great for the tiny ones and later they can 'read' it themselves).  each page is a surprise on first reading and again the illustrations are fantastic, full of detail and yest mostly simple in red and black sketches.  Lastly a book full of the most wonderful artwork and a simple cat & mouse chase story, Mouse, Look Out by Judy Waite & Norma Burgin.  If you love black cats and old houses full of lost things then you will enjoy reading this to your little one.  Again I love the detail in this one, fallen leaves and ivy creeping, cobwebs, old newspaper and broken crockery.  Some very hasty reviews, but check these books out if you can... and hopefully you'll find them for 10p somewhere!

I heart hand-me-downs... and the same goes for clothes, particularly baby and little girl clothes that they grow out of so quickly.  Freecycle is great for this of course but also my friends and I with similar age girls, share clothes among them.  We live at different ends of the country but post the most pretty 'good will' clothes packages to each other now and again.  Its the most fun package to receive and we had one today for B!  So our living room floor is currently scattered with books and pretty prints in pink and red... not to mention the baby and the 3 year old ...  So I better get back to them.