Usborne Books

I had to post about the most amazing new book find. We ordered a bunch of books from Usborne Books and everyone in the family is in love. We first came across Usborne Books when T was a baby and they quickly became her favorite books. When T2 came along he was just as enamored with them. He really loved all touchy feely books and the early words books and mom loved that they were not filled with licensed characters and inappropriate content. But since then I just haven't seen a lot of Usborne titles around. Come to find out Usborne is an international publisher and that's why I just didn't seem to come across them in our local bookstore. Anyway long story short once we found a source we ordered an entire library of these books. I will be posting on my favorites as we discover them. A real stand out are the Lift & Discover series. We have the Question and Answers book. The illustrations are just so precious and the quality is amazing, the best part is how much my kiddos love this book. You can order them from www.usbornekid.com

Daily Lessons

T starts montessori school in the fall and in preparation we have been working on making sure she is confident in some basic early education skills. I let her go at her own pace, never push her and try to wrap the lessons around fun activities so that she continues to develop a lifelong love of learning. Lately we have been working on drawing her letters. This exercise is a fun way to for her to practice her writing and work on her fine motor skills. I draw the original letters and she has to erase them with the brush and water.

She knows how to spell and write her own name and she wants me to write all of her friends names so she can trace those as well. It is so amazing to be able to watch as her language skills progress to the next level. Honestly, I am a bit conflicted over the fact that once she starts school someone else will be directing her and teaching my little monkey things. I cherish watching her learn and how she looks at me while we are doing her lessons as if I am the smartest Mom on earth. I love how when Dad gets home she recounts our lessons to him almost verbatim using the same words with the same inflections she learned from me. I already know when the first day of school rolls around there will be plenty of tears, not hers but mine. I already know that I will hold them back and wait until my car pulls around the bend before I lose it so I don't tarnish her moment. We only have four more weeks to spend in this pre-school - pre-school bubble I am going to cherish every one.