Library Book of the Week: Llama Llama Red Pajama

I picked up Llama Llama Red Pajama at the library last week and it is easily Jackson's favorite book since, well, everything by Leslie Patricelli. J made me read Llama Llama Red Pajama to him about 12 times in a row today and his enthusiasm for the story is endearing and hilarious. He repeats the last word of several of the stanzas (including "moan..." and "The end."), he looks extremely concerned when Baby Llama is having his meltdown (the little guy's eyes get all big and fearful), and he laughs like a bandit when Mama Llama says "tizzy."

Regarding other library books we read this week, Jackson gave middling reviews to Clifford, the Big Red Dog, while Dr. Suess' My Many-Colored Days was a definite thumbs-down (but Mama Llama liked it quite well thank you).

On Monday we'll visit the Brentwood Branch of the LAPL to look for Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever and Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever, which were recommended by someone on the Well-Trained Mind forums. For now Jackson's TV is restricted to Baby Signing Time! once a day (which he loves) or regular Signing Time! (which he pretty much refuses to watch, although he does love Leah and learned her name sign today), but he basically seems to not yet have the attention span for a regular TV show, so this hunt for Richard Scarry videos is more of a research mission on my part.

Overall, our curriculum (at 16 months) is lots and lots of read-alouds, including ideally a daily poem or two from Sing a Song of Popcorn, a daily reading from D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths*, some outside time, some music either in the car or at mealtime, and some attempt at taking about colors, numbers, shapes or letters, be that in the form of a shape sorter toy, counting while eating, reading an alphabet book or talking about colors.

Jackson just learned the sign for the word color, but I'm not sure he really gets the concept of colors yet. I'm hoping to establish a more regular schedule for playdates and "field trip" days so we can have both have some structure, and once that's in place, hopefully draw more activities from First Art, that Gymboree book and Teaching Montessori in the Home: Preschool Years, all of which I still need to, ahem, read.

*We're up to the story of Cadmus and the founding of Thebes. I try to get in at least a fragment of a story when I bring this book down, but Jackson really just likes to look at the pictures of his favorite "moo" (page 108, Zeus disguised as a white cow so he can carry off Europa) and his favorite "nay-nay" (page 128, Bellerophon fighting monsters from the back of Pegasus). Before D'Aulaire's I read him Aesop's Fables and once we're done we'll start working through the Golden Bible.