After procrastinating for such a long time I finally decided to start shifting the boys out of our bedroom. They are old enough (at 1.5yr and 4yrs) to be sleeping in their own beds in their own room. Even though our master bedroom can accommodate two extra single beds comfortably I feel that it is time that they learn to stop co-sleeping and be more independent.
Ryan has been remarkably good and manages to stay in his bed till morning. However Roy will still try to sneak into our bedroom in the middle of the night. I guess it will take longer training him as he still gets up for night feeds.
Eric Carle’s – The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a must read for young readers.
It is an excellent book which addresses the life cycle of a butterfly. From a egg , it hatches into a tiny caterpillar and starts eating till it becomes a very fat and big caterpillar. After it has ate it’s full it weaves a cocoon around it and hibernates before emerging as a colourful butterfly.
It teaching the Science concept of a butterfly’s life cycle and is an introduction to the topic of animal life-cycle.
Egg—> Larvae —-> Cocoon —-> Adult Butterfly
The book also address the concept of counting and healthy/unhealthy foods.The caterpillar feasts on unhealthy snacks such as chocolate cake, ice-cream, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, a lollipop, some cherry pie,a sausage, a cupcake and one slice of watermelon. As result of his feasting he had a stomach. Parents can focus on the need to eat healthy and in moderation to kids as a subtopic from reading this book.
Counting and days of the weeks is also addressed in this book through in the section
“ On Monday, he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry.”
“On Tuesday, he ate through two pears . But he was still hungry.”
“On Wednesday, he ate through three plums. But he will still hungry”
Kids can stick their fingers through the holes in the fruits on each page while the caterpillar devours the different fruits each day and count along. By encouraging the kids to count they will slowly be able to associate the spoken number with the quantity.