Little Readers - Blown Away by Rob Biddulph

What happens when a penguin flies a kite? Disaster! Rob Biddulph is a fantastic author and a very talented artist, this book reads like a rap and drags you through the pages. I kept having to remind myself to slow down so I could study the hilarious illustrations. 

The characters are quirky and occasionally aloof but also endearing. This book, with its oddball cast and tonal flat aesthetic has a very 'grown up' feel. Sometimes there's a tendency for children's books to assume that children won't appreciate graphic design, not so on these pages, Rob treats his young readers as grown up critics and I love him for it!

Seriously I would frame some of these pages! I loved the fun and energy in this book, it leaps from each page, especially after the austerity of the first few scenes. 

The layout of this book keeps it interesting for readers and watchers. The illustrations split and divide in funny places and occasionally there's graphic art to add richness to the story meaning that you can read it again and again and it still feels fresh.

We borrowed this from the library but I loved it so much that I ordered a copy to put on our own shelf. It's eccentric and harebrained and brilliant! We need it!

Little Readers - Tidy by Emily Gravett

Tidy is a gorgeous little book - just book at it!! I had a giddy palpitation when I spotted it sticking out of the library shelf. Book feast!

Poor Pete the badger just loves tidying but one day he goes a little bit too far! His out of control cleaning has put the forest is in danger, everyone needs to roll up their sleeves if they're going to save it. 

The illustrations are so vibrant, so natural and so tactile that I found myself studying each one. The tones and textures capture the feel of a forest perfectly. There's lots of fun quirky details hidden among the trunks and leaves that will make great talking points with older children. As do the changing colours, how long did it take Pete to clean the whole forest?

Unlike some picture books in which the illustrations merely show you what the text has already told you, Emily uses her illustrations to add lots of extra meaning, just look at Pete up on that digger! And what does rabbit think of all this?

It's not just the illustrations that make this book so special, it rhymes well and flows nicely. There are also several moments like the one above, short one word sentences in child friendly fonts making this very accessible for dyslexic readers. Aside from the practicalities Pete and his friends will make you laugh while making a very serious point about the need to look after our world.

This charming books is well worth adding to your home library, as much fun for grown ups as it is for kids - a rare quality!

Here Come The Girls

Chick, chick chickeeeeeeeens! Oh how exciting! Our girls arrived last Friday and I am besotted already. To say 'arrived' is possibly an overstatement, it implies they jetted in from somewhere exotic with monogrammed luggage and an entourage, though when you see them its not hard to imagine that being the case. Introducing Joan and Zsa Zsa, two fine looking birds named after two fine looking broads (Collins and Gabor, keep up).

In reality there was very little glamour save for that found in the fetishising of all things rural and inefficient, they arrived in an apple box. I picked them up from a man in the village who keeps an outstanding fowl farm beside the allotment of his sandstone cottage (a Hello Dibley moment for me right there). This man had every kind of feathered bandit - lots of which I didn't recognise but was too embarrassed to ask about given how much of the city he could smell off me; in response to my curious "What do you call those blonde dames?" (yes I said that about chickens) he grunted "Chicken". Anywhoooo, I bought four, Fred had given me explicit instructions; I was to buy two chickens to raise as pets, they would be excluded from all egg quotas and would never see a garnish. I was expressly forbidden from purchasing more than two - if my husband sounds like a 1950s throw back, relax! The last time I was tasked with collecting one small animal I adopted two enormous, untrainable labradoodles who have made his life miserable. Thus, caution. The arrival of the chickens has prompted Fred and I am to each utter a senctence we never imagined we would say. I was forced to declare "We do not eat family" in response to a barbaric suggestion of what would happen to chickens who didn't lay. While Fred had to insist that "The poultry stay outside. In all situations." when I became too concerned about the rain and the impermeability of feathers.

As I said, instructed to buy two and bought four. Standard! We have two Silkies and two Cuckoo Marans, and strangely, like the cast of the original Planet of the Apes, they tend to stick to their own. Zsa Zsa (fair haired like her namesake) and Joan (dark like her's) are obviously the Silkies they enjoy eating and running in terror from leaves, the Marans are named Betty and Bitch, they enjoy laying eggs and inflicting small wounds on stray hands they find in the coop. Bitch is, well, a total bitch and Zsa Zsa is, well, a total diva, yesterday she wouldn't come out of the coop because it was raining! I send a lot of my time watching them peck around their pen. They're slowly becoming more friendly and will no longer run from me when I visit them, in fact if they spot that I have something delicious like spinach or broccoli stalks they will run towards me. They're still not keen on being picked up, the first night they were here Fred and I waited patiently for them to go into the coop, however patience was not available in great abundance as were en route to a black tie ball. As it grew darker and darker and the cab honked louder and louder we were forced to capture the chickens ourselves; bow ties, false lashes and feathers flying in every direction, bums high and knees scrapped while a highly amused driver took Snapchats. Such is life.

Hilarity and uncomfortable mental images aside the girls have settled in well. The Marans are starting to lay regularly with about 6 eggs from them this week. The Silkies (or "your two Dilsies" as Fred refers to them) have laid a grand total of one egg between them, but they weren't bred for the drudgery of the nest. These photos sum up their characters perfectly; Zsa Zsa strutting about like she's facing down Tyra, Joan looking a little worried, Betty and Bitch getting on with the important business of chickening. Every home should have chickens!

A Montessori Playtime!

Oh what a joy these last few weeks have been! 

At 13 weeks it was like a little light switched on inside Alfie, all of a sudden he was interested in everything! He was reaching out to grab objects, bringing things to his mouth and from 14 weeks passing things between his hands (I've been told he's young to be doing this but I'm in no way surprised, he's very advanced! #smug)

These are the toys that Alfie has been showing most interest in. We offered him each toy, most items we held out he didn't react to at all, these were the ones that made his wee eyes open wide and his little fingers stretch out! The books at the back were a surprise hit, I'd assumed that he was too young to enjoy such stagnant activities but he loves lying down and having a chat about each picture. The chicken rattle on the left took a few offerings before he went for it while the sock puppets, Montessori Ball and wooden ring were instant hits!

Every afternoon while he takes his long nap I prep out his little play area - this is definitely an indulgence that is uniquely afforded to an only child, I can't imagine being able to do this if there were other children wrecking about! There are so many gorgeous montessori rooms and nurseries on Pinterest but I do not live a life worthy of Pinterest and must make Montessori fit with the rest of our home! A Montessori environment is referred to as a "Prepared Environment", one that is ready for a child and accessible to them. The objects within it should be suited to a child's physical abilities and their developmental stage. When it comes to a child's relationship to his surrounding Maria Montessori has this to say;

"How does the child assimilate his environment? He does it solely in virtue of one of those characteristics that we now know him to have. This is an intense and specialized sensitiveness in consequence of which the things about him awaken so much interest and so much enthusiasm that they become incorporated in his very existence. The child absorbs these impressions not wit his mind but with his life itself."

The adult a child becomes will be a reflection of the environment in which they were raised.

A child's environment need not be cluttered and filled with lots of distractions, in fact these blankets are probably overly stimulating for Alfie, but its really cold here and these are the warmest that we have!! The Montessori nursery should be neat, beautiful and purposeful. Everything within it should have a place and a reason for being there to encourage a child to calmly explore, appreciate and use each item. I've been in childcare environments where the area is so chaotic and so rammed full of toys that children are literally running from one thing to the next and leaving a trail of dropped toys in their wake. Their energy (never mind attention) is strewn about the room, making it impossible to concentrate or build deep relationships. There is a wonderful quote from Maria Montessori herself that explains why special care should be taken with the environment in which a child grows.

"The child has a different relation to his environment from ours...the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear."

So a child who grows in a chaotic environment will develop a chaotic internal world, a child who grows in calmness and purposeful play will develop a more peaceful mentality. Below is a picture of Alfie at only 14 weeks, in it he is very carefully examining on of his mobiles which he grabbed and turned over before he brought to his face, something I thought would have been impossible for such a tiny mind and uncoordinated body to achieve! Well done Alfie!

Back Gardens on Cnoc na Gaire

When it comes to home, a good garden is very important to Fred and I, in fact to me it was more important than the interiors. Perhaps I spent most of my childhood several feet up a tree in a rather marvellous den of my own making! I can tell you in detail the location of every knot and scar on our tallest conifer, the sound it made in the winds, the way it smelt after the rain, the sticky feeling of sap after a heatwave, but I would struggle to recall the pattern of the living room wallpaper! At the moment we have a very small garden but it really is an extension of our home, which is rare in Ireland where its either too wet, windy or dark to use a garden for most of the year!

We kept this in mind when we were designing the gardens on Cnoc na Gaire, we wanted somewhere that our whole family could use, where we could grow plants, food and children, a place to socialise, play, learn and relax in on a daily basis and not just when the sun deigned to shine. We wanted a loose formality, a landscaping with soft edges, a manicured garden into which the surrounding hills had tumbled. We don't plan on having cows in the garden (!) but we didn't want them to look too out of place when they stuck their head over the fence.

The front garden was such a big space that it could comfortably accommodate this (rambling, nonsensical) brief. The back garden on the other hand - well that was a bit of a tougher call! Nevertheless I think it looks amazing! The round patios, potager garden, curving lattice fencing  and kidney lawn keep it reasonably informal while still providing designated areas for all the things we wanted, the chickens in the corner will only add to its charm!

The raw untouched back yard! At this stage it was a grass and gravel! It was hard to imagine what the space was capable of becoming and a part of me loved how rugged it was.

That feeling didn't last long once the diggers moved in! Up came the grass and down went the patio slabs! 

Things really slowed down after the initial spurt, the finer details took a lot longer, the pergola has gone up over the larger patio, eventually this will be covered in gorgeous, perfumed wisteria. I can't wait! 

Aaaaaaaand it's almost finished! The trampoline has been sunk and the lawn has been seeded, the plants are laid out ready for their forever homes and I can't wait to move in!!!!!!! 

This my favourite area! On the left is looking down towards the front garden, through the 'secret' path that runs behind the potager garden and on the right is the view looking up this pathway into the back garden! Eeeek! I'm so looking forward to chasing Alfie and the boys along this path!

Play time!

All throughout my pregnancy Alfie was the most chilled out little baby, he never went mad with the kicking, I had no terrible hardships during his gestation (what a word!) and his birth was pretty easy and happy. He's been the exact same now that he's out, a happy, relaxed little baby! 

Fred and I were keen on starting Montessori from birth and this is our first stab at it! He's 14 weeks old now and just starting to engage with people and objects around him. In the last few days we've started to introduce a small selection of toys, prior to this his happiest moments were when he was looking at someones face and singing songs with them or studying his black and white banner.

These photos were taken when he was only two and a half weeks old. At this stage a baby can't see further than 8-12 inches. Their vision is so poor that they struggle to distinguish colours and find it easiest to focus on high contrast images in black and white...As usual, I didn't believe the experts and their alleged facts until I saw it in action for myself!

Alfie's reaction to the black and white hanging was instant! From the first second that we put in front of him he couldn't tear his eyes away! It was the first time that he had really focused on anything and taken some time to study something.

We could see his eyes travelling all over the whole chart until he found a square that caught his attention then he would begin his search again.

I was so surprised by his reaction. His little face is pure concentration! He stayed like this for several minutes, letting his attention flow to different areas of the chart.

As he got older we folded the chart into a pyramid and let him stare at it while he did his tummy time which he also really enjoyed but his favourite way to play with it is still while it's hanging from his baby gym.

PS. I love the IKEA Leka baby gym, because it's so easy to adapt it and change out the mobiles, added bonus it's a bargain at £20. It's fairly plain and not 100 miles from the Montessori/Waldorf ideal that we would want for Alfie. So far we haven't messed with it too much but I LOVE this tutorial to modify it from Put Up Your Dukes. When I get a bit of spare time (lol) I'm going to try and do something similar.

Gardens on Cnoc na Gaire

Over 8 weeks ago men with shovels, steel capped boots, a lifetime supply of lucozade and roaring yellow diggers arrived like an invading army on to Cnoc na Gaire. Since then our Hill of Laughter has been a slightly less tranquil and significantly louder place. There's been a whole lot of mud, sweat and rain but the once grassy knoll is emerging from under those steel clad feet as an elegant and refined garden.

This was our garden waaaaay back in July just before Alfie was born, which feels like a whole life time ago! A different person stood on these front steps and looked out at a different landscape, with only the faintest inclination of how drastically the world was about to shift!

The initial growth spurt was the most dramatic as it happened so quickly! I remember a brief moment of panic when I first saw how we had brutalised it, I genuinely felt sad for everything we'd uprooted. A small mercy that the Summer was over we weren't making any bees homeless. As first priority the top layer of soil was pulled away and turned to kill weeds and destroy their roots. After that the levels were set, because of the slope and poor drainage the front garden was divided into three levels. The first will be a gravel turning circle and will sit right under that digger, down three steps will be a rectangular formal lawn and down a further flight of steps, nestled at the foot of the hill will be a round lawn surrounded by a wild flower meadow.

Things had started to take shape by September, you can see where the lawns will be laid, as well as where the steps will eventually go. One of the things I love about Cnoc na Gaire is the light. From every angle it is bathed in warm, living light. This photo makes me so excited to grow our lives there.

Then one day, there was a roundabout! The turning circle appeared over night! On the right you can just about make out the last few feet of what will one day be a secret pathway and down on both lawns there are tiny, grassy spikes nuzzling their way out of the soil! Eeeeek! I can't wait! 

On Tuesday for the very first time we will be donning work boots and rubber gloves ourselves and finally getting our own hands in the soil! Our shiny new shovels are sitting in the garage just waiting to be used! I am speechless with joy!