Start of Week 9

Dear little one,

You are the most precious little thing.

It was so wonderful to see your picture.

I am imagining you in my life in a few

months time and it is very exciting.

I'm imagining us having fun together,

exploring parks and going out around

town. I hope we become good friends.

I felt a teensy weensy bit sick this week

but only when I ate a crumpet. Some 

people say that if you don't get nausea 

you have a very cranky baby. I hope

you won't be cranky. Ill just sing you 

a lullaby if you are.

xx

Books for the Bobbin #4

The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape is the reason I no longer watch tv... partly.

It is the story of a little boy who watches so much television that his eyes become square and so does the world around him. To him this is such a terrible outcome that he cries square tears and begs his mother to teach him how he can make his eyes round again.

Many a threat of square eyes could be heard in my home growing up.

Mum frequently used the well-known section of the book that when you are bored you could

Read a book,
do a puzzle,
draw a picture,
look at the goldfish,
look at the sky and wonder why.

I even found myself saying this to my nanny boys the other day when all they wanted to do was watch tv after school. Its slightly scary watching children watch tv at times. I'm sure I was the same. They get this glazed expression on their face and very little outside noise gets through to them. All that can be seen is the eerie ever changing glow of the screen on their face, shining in their eyes.

I guess it's not all bad. I remember spending some time watching tv. We didn't really watch it all that much but it was interesting and entertaining and gave us something to discuss with friends at school.

Yet even though I'm pretty sure televisitis is not a real condition i still get a little worried about the shape of my eyes after watching the box for a bit. This book has served as a very good cautionary tale. I think its main message is that there is so much more to life than tv. To spend your life watching it means that you miss out on so much else even if it is just to look at the sky and wonder why.

In the end, the mum unplugs the tv. Not such a huge thing. Not such a scary thing at all.


Transcript and slide show of the book here.

Image Credit Amazon.com

Books for the Bobbin #2

This is a book that Myles suggested but one that we both enjoyed as children. It tells the story of three children Joe, Bessie and Fanny ( I think they have now changed Fanny's name as it was rude or somthing???)

They have adventures in the faraway tree which is a very tall tree populated by numerous eccentric folk. Some of these folk include Dame Washalot who is always putting the laundry on, Moonface who's face looks... like a moon and Mr Whatzisname.

Its a magical land where everyone has their own quirks and Joe Bessie and Fanny get to meet all the strange people and have adventures with them.

When I was little we had a tall pine tree in our backyard that we named the faraway tree. It was pretty tall. At least as tall as we could climb. We would pretend to visit all the characters in the story and then we would slide down the long branches to the bottom.

Myles likes that he grew up on seven acres, four of which are bushland. He was able to go into the bush for adventures like Joe Bessie and Fanny and use his imagination.

Imagination is a precious thing and this book has it in bucketloads.

Image Credit: enidblytonsociety.co.uk