Mommy FTW

Those of you who read Mommy For The Win regularly know that Cameron loves to read, and I try to encourage this by always getting him new books.  I’ve become a huge fan of the D.C. Public Library because really, who has the money to buy all these books!

When I first started going to the Library I would aimlessly search the shelves and pull out what seemed like it would interest Cameron.  Occasionally I would find something good, but it was hard to really get in there to look for specific things while wrangling a toddler and a newborn.  So, with the encouragement of the DCPL on twitter (@dcpl) I checked out the D.C. Public Library website, and learned how to place books on hold for pick up at whatever library I wanted.  It’s really easy – Here’s a step by step guide:

1)Figure out what book you want to check out – this can be the hardest part.  If you are short on inspiration, use Amazon.com to help you.  Today I started by typing in “Truck Book” to the search box.  One of the suggestions that came up was “Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle.  The reviews seemed good, so I thought I’d see if the Library had it.  (Honestly, I would say 8 out of 10 times they do have the book I am looking for!)  FYI, another great resource is the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” suggestions box.  It’s full of other great ideas for similar books.  If your toddler has a favorite book, search for it and see what Amazon suggests in this area.  It’s really helpful!

Use this suggestions box to come up with ideas

2)Go to the D.C. Public Library website and search their online catalog.  The website is catalog.dclibrary.org – just type the title of the book (or if you have an author you like, you can try that as well) to find your book.

Search the online catalog

3)Place the book on hold.  Click on the book – when looking at the book information page you will see there is an option to “Place Hold” – this means that they will fetch the book for you (from any DC Library branch) and bring it to whichever Library branch you ask.  Yes.  THEY DELIVER IT!! If the book is checked out, they will get it for you once it is returned.  Usually it takes a few days if the book is not checked out.  They will email you when the book has arrived at your requested library.

Place your book on Hold - you can choose your pick up branch

4)Pick up your book.  Once you get your email, go and pick up your book – it will be there waiting for you under your name.  It’s so easy.  You will never aimlessly browse the Library again!

You can manage your holds and see what the status is as well.  If you decide you don’t want a book after all, you can cancel the hold.

Manage your Holds using the "My Requested Holds" button

Of course to do all this you need a library account.  If you don’t have one of those, sign up.  It’s quick, easy, and FREE!

Not in D.C.?  Don’t worry – I know other Libraries have a similar system.  Stop in to your local branch and ask them how to place a hold for a book and if they have an online catalog.  You will be so happy you did!

It seems like every time we get new books from the Library Cameron learns new words and his vocabulary grows.  Pretty cool!  And now to make finding the books I want super easy I just request them online at the DC Library website and get an email when they are ready to pick up.  If I’m short on inspiration of what to look for in the online catalog I just browse Amazon and see what other books people buy when I look up Cameron’s favorites.  Anyways, these are his current favorites – soon to be returned for something new!

Alphabeep!  Cameron learned so many words from this book, which highlights a transportation related word for each letter of the alphabet.  Now everywhere we drive he points out stop signs, yield signs, red lights, firetrucks, cement mixers… the list goes on!  It’s perfect for any vehicle obsessed toddler.

Cameron has loved many Byron Barton books, and Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs is no exception.  A lot of the dinosaur names are pretty hard for him, but he did learn “T Rex” and also now seems to understand what “scary” and “scared” means.

In the book My Big Rig a young boy drives cross country in his truck via his imagination.  Since Cameron likes anything to do with trucks, this one is a no brainer!

Cameron seems to love every Spot book that we bring home.  In Spot Goes to the Park, Spot and his friends play ball and swing at the park.  These are things that Cameron and I do a lot together, so reading this book is a fun way for me to ask him questions about what we did at the park too.  Of course, this book has all the lift-the-flap fun that Spot books are known for.

Be sure to check for these books at your local Library – and DC friends, try out the online library catalog.  It’s a really convenient way to get all the books you want.  If you’re not in DC, check to see if your library system has a similar feature.  I know the one in Brooklyn did as well!

As I said in my last post, Cameron and I have been spending a lot of evenings at the Tenley Friendship Library where we wait for his Dad to come home from work.  This seems to have really sparked a new love of books in Cameron, which makes me really happy.  Below are four of the books we recently checked out that Cameron has really been enjoying.  Look for them at your library, or find them on Amazon.com (or at your local bookseller).

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk – This book is BY FAR Cameron’s favorite of the library books.  It is very repetitive, and has lots of rhyming, which he likes.  Also, a lot of the words in the book Cameron knows.  Stuck, Truck, Beep, Help, Bus, Car, the list goes on – so it’s perfect for him.  He recites the words along with me as a I turn the pages.  (Cameron is getting put to bed now by his dad as I type this and I can hear him yelling “Truck! Stuck! Help! BEEP BEEP!”)  We might have to renew this one for extra time…..

I Love Trains by Philemon Sturges – At home Cameron has the book I Love Trucks by the same author, but recently he has really been into trains so this book is a hot item.  The illustrations in this book are particularly interesting to him – there’s lots of animals (cows, sheep, rabbits, ducks, dogs) which he likes to point out, as well as trucks, and cars on the train.  The grand finale of the book is that Dad comes home on the train, so it’s perfect for our library visits.

Spot Goes to the Farm by Eric Hill – At home Cameron has Where’s Spot (which I prefer) but Cameron really likes Spot Goes to the Farm because of all the animals in it.  Of course he also loves the lift-the-flap aspect of all the Spot books.  You can’t really go wrong with any of them!

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper – Do you remember this classic book?  I sure do.  When Cameron pulled it off the shelf (due to the train pictures, of course) I had my doubts that he would like it.  It has a lot more words than all the other books he likes, so I figured he would loose interest part way through.  This wasn’t the case – which taught me not to underestimate his attention span (especially when trains are involved!)  Sometimes the oldies are still goodies.

As we get more books out, I’ll keep posting.  A lot of local libraries have online catalogs so you can search for these books before you go if you are interested in them.  You can even place a hold on them so when they come back to the library they will keep them at the front desk for you!

Cameron and I have been looking for fun things to do since we’re in DC – and Library story time seemed like a great (free!) idea since he enjoyed it so much at the Clinton Hill Library in Brooklyn.  I checked on the DC public library website to see what kinds of things were going on.  It turns out, there are lots of options, and their website makes it really easy to see what is going on each day of the week at each location.  This is awfully handy when you wake up and it’s pouring rain and you wonder what in the world you are going to do with your busy toddler (like yesterday!)

I live near the Chevy Chase library (5625 Connecticut Ave. N.W DC), and they have two kids of story times there.  There’s a “lap time” for kids up to 24 months, and a “toddler time” for ages 2 and up.  I have checked out both since Cameron is right on the dividing age line.  Both of them were really fun for him – the lap time is more low key with some singing, less moving around, and is a little shorter (30 minutes).  The toddler time had more music (most played from a boom box and you sing along), moving around to the music, more reading of longer books, and lasted longer (45 minutes).  After each session we went to the children’s section to look for books and hang out with the other kids.

Check out the Story time Calender on the DC public Library website to find out what activities are going on at the library near you.

Also I wanted to note that on nice days, it’s fun to check out the small playground behind the library.  It’s made especially for kids age 2-5 which was perfect for us.  Cam had a ball.  It’s a great way to spend a few hours.

I wrote a post about Starfall.com ages ago, and for awhile Cameron and I both loved it – and then we forgot about it.  Recently while I was trying to cook dinner and keep Cameron entertained I remembered it – and it was love at first sight, again!

Starfall.com has different levels of reading and phonics help for different aged children – we stuck with the A B C’s for now!

Pick a letter, any letter!

All the letters of the alphabet are laid out, clicking on each one brings up a small interactive display about each letter – what it sounds like, what it looks like (upper and lower case,) some words starting with and containing each letter, with some pictures or animation, and in some cases a small game. There is also a section on sign language.

A is for....

B is for... GRR!

C is for... Cameron's favorite. He loves Cats!

The displays are easy to navigate, and Cameron is able to move back and fourth through the site using the keyboard.  So if you want to show your little one something fun on the computer, check out Starfall.com!

Cameron’s favorite books are always changing as he grows – but I wanted to let you all in on his current favorites (FYI – he is 20 months old).

Cameron is obsessed with Cars (which for some reason he calls “choo choo”) and Trucks (“tuck”)  He also loves Cats (“tat”) since we have two of them.  So, his favorite books revolve around these items:

My Car – Byron Barton – This is a book about a man named Sam who loves his car and drives a bus.  There are lots of pictures of all kids of vehicles.  Sam also wears a hat and shoes which Cameron likes to point out and say on every page.  It is required that this book is read at least once before bed time.  This book has thick pages, but is a step below a board book in terms of durability.

Find the Kitten – Find it Board Books – Each page of this book has a picture of a kitten and Cameron loves to point it out on every page.  There’s also other things to point out to help build vocabulary.  As you might have guessed, this book is a board book.

Trucks Roll! – Richard Jackson Books – I’ve been reading this book to Cameron since he was born, but he loves it more and more every day.  It’s got so many pictures of semi trucks in it, Cameron is in heaven.  He always pulls it off the shelf for me to read every morning.  This book is more of a “big kid book” as the pages are not cardboard or thick.

Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown – If you didn’t get at least one copy of this book as a gift, I would be shocked!  Did you ever notice how many kittens are pictured in it?  Well Cameron did, and he points them out on every page.  A classic goodnight story.  We have the large “Lap Edition” and a smaller travel size both of which are board books.

Toes, Ears, Nose – Karen Katz – This is one of many “Lift the Flap Books” by Karen Katz, all of which Cameron enjoys (we find them at Clinton Hill Library) but I really like this one because it helps Cameron learn his body parts.  Unfortunately, some of the flaps have been removed due to all the tough love that Cameron has shown this book.

Also, check out my post about Bath Books Cameron Loves – I wrote in in September 2009 (almost a year ago!) but Cameron still loves all these books, and they are still a big part of bath time.

Posted from New York, New York, United States.

This week I’m heading back to DC with Cameron (for more pool time at the Wilson Aquatic Center!) so I decided to do a little research on the local Library (the Chevy Chase branch located at 5625 Connecticut Avenue) to see what sorts of baby friendly reading programs they have in case we’ve got some spare time.  Here’s what I found listed on the Friends of the Chevy Chase Library web site.  Looks like they’ve got some good offerings!

Chevy Chase Library (via flickr)

Baby Time!
Thursdays at 9:30 am
Books, Lullabies, and Bonding
A program intended for babies and their caregivers

Story Time!
Thursdays at 10 am
Stories, Songs, and So Much More
A program intended for children ages 2-5 and their caregivers

Family Time!
Wednesdays at 7 pm
Stories, Arts & Crafts, and FUN
A program intended for children and their family members

I don’t think we will make Baby Time on this visit, but we will try to in the future!  I think this just goes to show that you should check with your local library to see what kinds of things they have to offer you and your little one.

Cameron and I visited the Clinton Hill Library last Tuesday in the hopes of catching Story Time – but the program was on break.  We still had a great time though!  Anyways, the Babies for Books Story Time is starting up again today, March 2nd.  There are two times : 10:45, and 11:30.  Maybe we will see you there!

The Clinton Hill branch is located at 380 Washington Ave. at Lafayette Ave, right around the corner from Underwood Park.

Posted from New York, New York, United States.

I was over at another mom’s house recently and she was telling me about a great website that her daughter loves, which is also educational.  It’s called Starfall.com – I checked it out with Cameron, and he really enjoys it.  The site has different levels of reading and phonics help for different aged children – we stuck with the A B C’s for now!

Pick a letter, any letter!

All the letters of the alphabet are laid out, clicking on each one brings up a small interactive display about each letter – what it sounds like, what it looks like (upper and lower case,) some words starting with and containing each letter, with some pictures or animation, and in some cases a small game.  There is also a section on sign language.

A is for....

B is for... GRR!

C is for... Cameron's favorite. He loves Cats!

The displays are easy to navigate, and although Cameron isn’t using the mouse yet, I think given his expertise with the iPhone, it won’t be long before he won’t need my help at all.  So check out Starfall.com with your little learner!

No real updates today – this mommy is SICK!  And unfortunately it seems like Cameron has caught my cold.

Just a reminder – on Saturday is the Greenlight Bookstore Storytime (and other grand opening celebrations) and then on Sunday is Ghouls and Gourds at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  Here’s to hoping for good weather, and a speedy recovery for myself and Cameron!