Contents of June

JB reminded me that if I am writing a post about reading I need to mention Benjamin's obsession with the "contents of april," his name for the "table of contents."  It has proven impossible to change his way of saying this.  I'm sure it's one of those things that will work itself out...right? 

Using his phrase as a title for this post also suggests that I am writing about what is making us content this first month of summer--reading and imaginative play together.   

I think this was an attempt at "rest time" 

Indeed, reading or looking at books is a primary activity for both kids right now, with Benjamin in the early stages of actually reading and Liza Jane pointing with great excitement at pictures she sees and "look mommy, letters!"  She will also sit down with a book and flip through the pages as she talk herself through the book, most of which I don't usually understand except for the occasional "mommy and baby and baby and daddy..."

reading right there in the middle of things at Poppa Rollos 

And what a delight to read with Benjamin this summer.  Reading is truly the go-to activity at our house, so it makes sense that Benjamin should be eager to read on his own I suppose. We're not big believers in pushing early reading for it's own sake though; it's really been his initiative that has made him a reader.  We're going through first reader books like Hop on Pop and the Little Bear books.  We just got a new bunch from the library so we can read some stories he doesn't already know.  As I'm writing this during Liza's nap, Ben is reading "Going on a Bear Hunt" next to me here on the couch.

Another wonderful thing about this summer is sibling play.  Benjamin and Eliza have really learned how to enjoy playing together. Not that they don't have their fights, and I do wonder how this is going to be different when Eliza starts to really dig in her heels about being bossed around, but I don't want to diminish this stage either.  Their favorite thing to play right now is microwave, which is actually our old broken microwave that we put on the floor of the entry-way a few weeks ago and will probably stay there a bit longer.  

The Thomas the Train tent someone gave us has also been a hit for play time.  Benjamin really doesn't care very much about the whole "Thomas" thing, but he does like to take the train/airplane/boat to places like Mars, Paris, and Liza's favorite place:  "I'm goin' to town, mama."  I love it when they talk together and get into the same game.  Usually it starts with Ben saying, "ok Liza, let's do this" and Liza responds very sweetly with "Oh, awright Ben Ben!" But sometimes Liza has ideas of her own and I've tried to encourage Ben to be responsive to her ideas too.  

The last picture of the day is from a little canoe trip JB took with Benjamin and another family. He took Liza out for a little spin when we met them for a picnic.  And now I hear Liza on the monitor, "Mama, it's time to wake up!" She's being very sweet about it, but that won't last long...

Add caption