In the usual style of a busy mummy, I was rushing around the health food shop grabbing all kinds of fun and healthy things, including rice pasta.  Little Bee loves the Animal shape pasta because then she can make stories up with her food, but on this day, all they had was boring macaroni.

Me:  Sorry Little Bee, they don’t have Animal pasta but we can try macaroni, how’s that?

I hurried her on, grabbing other things from the shelves, while Little Bee contemplated the big change in her menu.

Little Bee:  Thanks mama!

Me: For what, Little Bee?

Little Bee:  You got me baby rainbows!

Me (trying to balance Miso soup, tofu, raisins and sunflower seeds all on one arm and totally confused):  Ranbows?  Where?

Little Bee (pointing at the macaroni):  Here, mama!  Here in the pasta!  Baby rainbows….wow!

I have never in my life looked at macaroni and thought, oh yes, we are having rainbows for dinner.  I just love the way children don’t have any boundaries about what they are “supposed” to know about the world.  They make these amazing connections between things just because they don’t have as much junk in their heads as we do.

Is it really that crazy to think that the person who invented macaroni might have actually been inspired by rainbows?

I know we don’t need a megaphone to say something nice, but its a great way to get started!

Fill it up and let it overflow…..

Wanna read more about this? Check it out!

http://improveverywhere.com/2011/08/22/say-something-nice/

Love from Bee x

I am quitting my job.

I know you might not have known, but for the past seven weeks, I have been back at work, not as a teacher, but as a librarian in a primary school.  It’s a good job.  I work two and a half days a week and my job is to get the children excited about reading in a school on an estate.  The kids are high needs, but eager to learn.  Right up my street, right?

Yes!  But I can’t keep on working because the amount of money I earn doesn’t even cover the cost of the nanny we have had to hire to take care of Little Bee while I work.  Seriously.

In my stay at the school, we have seen a significant rise in the number of students coming into the library and talking about books.  We have celebrated Children’s Book Week and have had authors in residence to raise the profile of reading for pleasure in school.  I know that I have given this school way more than their money’s worth because it matters to me.  I care about getting books into the hands of the children and I will work hard to make sure this happens.  Especially these children.  They all come from the Estate and most of their parents are immigrants who have low levels of education themselves.  So these kids are trying to make it in the world against a lot of odds.  With teachers so pressured with paper work, long hours and insane curriculum expectations (this I will save for another post), I think the children are benefitting from having a someone who can share a love books and encourage them to do the same.  We all know that children who enjoy reading do much better academically than those who don’t.  And I think that these kids could do with this jump start.

Schools are always pushed for money and resources, and having a librarian is a huge luxury in a state school, so I am not blaming the school for the stinky pay.  Why doesn’t the school have the money to promote reading?  If we know it supports academic achievement, and if this country wants to do better with the literacy levels, then why isn’t more money given to schools to allow them to do this?  Librarians and libraries in schools should not be a luxury, they should be standard.  Why are teachers and schools constantly blamed for low literacy levels when it seems there are some really simple things that can be done to change this?  It’s just that these things cost money, right?

There are lots of good people dedicated to teaching and to raising literacy levels, but what is the value given to these people.  Not much from what I can see.  If we aren’t even paid enough money to cover our childcare, let alone the rest of our expenses, how can we possibly continue to work for the cause? The teaching profession will lose some hardworking and dedicated teachers this way.  So until the government chooses to value these people and these kinds of literacy initiatives in school, we are really going to have a hard time getting these kids reading, writing and climbing their way out of the estate.

Mama Bee to Little Bee (after she had counted all the steps outside the house): “Wow, Little Bee! That was great counting! You are such a star!”

Little Bee to Mama Bee: “No, Mama. I am a Moon.”

My little Bee is speaking in sentences…..I can hardly believe it! And she is using all her new found words to tell us that she is not planning on blending in with the crowd.
I imagine that she has been waiting all these months to tell us what is going on inside her head….it must be such an amazing feeling to finally be able to communicate.
It’s something we just take for granted, but watching Little Bee trying so hard to find the just right word to say what she wants us to understand has reminded me how careful I need to be with the words I choose to use with her and with other people.

Hello friends and readers….I am back, if you will have me

Some people might complain that there isn’t enough sun in London, and I agree….its way too dull and grey in this city.  But…

When the sun does come out, the city participates in a crazy kind of collective worship of the big yellow guy.  The picnic blankets come out, the sweaters come off and commuters are actually friendly to each other.  Yes, I said it.  On a sunny day in the city, Londoners are actually friendly to each other!

You see, if we had sunny days everyday in London, people would just get so excited and friendly, their heads would explode and the city would come to a stand still for sure!  So in order to keep the sanity and the Higher Power decided that we should only have sun on very, extra special days.  (Well, this is what my Yoga teacher and I decided must be the case when we discussed the sunny day at my class today!)

And today was one of those extra special sunny days.  So, because we don’t commute anymore…we spent it at the park on a picnic blanket!

The Primrose Hill Gang

http://www.oliverjeffers.com/

The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

This is the Little Bee’s new favourite book.  Of course, it goes without saying that I heart Oliver Jeffers.  He is one of the most beautiful writer/illustrators in the world of books right now and I will tell you why….

His artwork tells a story all by itself.  His characters are created and painted so lovingly that they become friends of the readers right away.  Its as if they speak right from the page, sharing a secret little smile with each reader.   Jeffers must take so much time to choose the perfect, right words to tell his stories because without so many words cluttering the page, he can fill a story with all the emotions in the world without seeming corny or cheesy at all.  His stories remind me so much of the essence of childhood, if you know what I mean.  The time when problems seem so big but so small at the very same time.  The time when going to the Moon on a forgotten airplane on a random afternoon seemed so very everyday normal.

So, this is the story of a little boy who flies to the moon, where he gets stuck because his plane runs out of petrol.  There, he meets a Martian who is also stranded because his spaceship has broken.  The two, after getting over their fear of each other, become friends. They help each other solve the problem of getting home and at the same time build a friendship that crosses planets and galaxies.

The most wonderful thing about this book is that the words tell one story, but combined with the illustrations, the real story emerges.  It is in the pictures that the emotions of friendship are revealed so beautifully.

Little Bee’s favourite part is when the boy and the alien make friends.  There is a beautiful symbol of friendship…..

http://www.oliverjeffers.com/

And Little Bee says, “Hands.  Friends. Hands.” Because that is one way she can show that she loves her friends, right?

And it doesn’t matter if your new friend is a boy from Mars, or your little friend next door.

Hands. Friends. Hands.

 

Warning:  The following is a gushing mummy post, just so you know

I am so enjoying Little Bee’s toddlerhood!  I am convinced that the stage that Little Bee is going through right now is like a nice payback for the madness that is the first 6 to 8 months of a baby’s life.  While I really enjoyed being a new mummy, I still found those little baby months so hard for all the normal reasons (breastfeeding, sleeplessness, getting used to three instead of two, weaning, oh the list goes on….).  But now, Little Bee is the bundle of joy that every new born baby Halmark card promised!

She has started really showing us that she is becoming her own person with likes, dislikes, feelings and personal tastes.  It’s so wonderful watching her thinking about what she wants to say and working through how she will say it so that we understand what she wants.  I love her little thinking face when she is trying to sort it all out.

The Sporty Look

I love how she says, “Wow!” when she sees something that she thinks is really cool.

I love how she has favourite stories that she likes to read.

I love how she serves tea from her tea set to all her little dolls and stuffed animals.

Going fishing

I love how she sings along to pop music while she is playing.  Look out Beyonce!

I love how she laughs her head off when making a joke with her dad.  It’s so amazing to see a sense of humour develop!

And my personal favourite at the moment is that she is totally into hats.  I just went to the charity shops on our high street and picked up some random funny hats for our dress-up box.  She can’t get enough of them!

Garden party, anyone?

 

….and we are too sick to visit with friends…

1.  Do some finger painting

2.  Have a tea party with the dolls

3.  Make a bead bracelet

4.  Skype

5.  Dance

6.  Do some yoga

7.  Read Charlie and Lola books over and over and over and over and…….

8.  Make a magazine collage

9.  Bake some cookies together

10.  Build a tent and play inside

11.  Jump off the sofa on to a pile of cushions

12.  Watch music videos and try to dance like that

13.  Look at photos

14.  Play with the duplo and build the tallest tower.

15.  Knock down the tower

16.  Have a tickle-cuddle

17.  Stick stickers on to every flat surface you can find

18.  Help mummy take all the stickers off the coffee table

19.  Play with the playdough

20.  Make a song up with the musical instruments

That should take us up to about 10:30am.  I am taking suggestions for what to do for the rest of the day……

http://www.peterhreynolds.com/

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

This wonderful story means a lot to me.

As a teacher, I get to meet lots of different kinds of students.  Some are so bold and confident which really inspires me…where do we lose that when we get older, I wonder?  But some are shy and timid and have gone through their young lives so far without anyone ever telling them that they are fabulous and wonderful.  This makes me sad.  So while I have these kids in my class for a year, I try to make it my plan to show them that at least in my eyes, they can achieve anything.  And this is one of the stories that I use to help them see that if they want to do something, they can do it.

The story is about Vashti, who thinks that she cannot draw or paint.  Her teacher knows that Vashti can do it, but we all know that it is Vashti who has to believe in herself.  When her teacher makes a lovely big deal about her dot in the middle of the page by putting the artwork up on her wall of fame, Vashti begins to see that anything can be art as long as we appreciate it.  So begins her journey into appreciating herself and her art.

Reynold’s illustrations are gorgeous, simple and sensitive, expressing Vashti’s personality and the growth in her confidence.

Such a lovely little book that will always be on my bookshelf as a teacher and now a mother because I believe that a child has to feel like they can do anything and be anything and we, as the adults in their lives have to find as many ways as possible of expressing that to them.  But as adults we forget to celebrate our art and our passions too.  This story is for anyone who has forgotten that we all have talents to share.  All we have to do is take the first step.

P.S  This is the first of Bee’s Beautiful Books.  Each week, I will try to share one of my favourites with you.  Grab a tea and enjoy a good book!

Dear Sun,

You have your hat on!! Hip Hip Hip Hooray!

With warm wishes from all the patio loving people in L-town xoxo

Dear Bus Driver,

Thank you for letting me ride on the bus for free this morning when I didn’t have any money left on my Oyster Card and no change in my purse.  You have no idea how kind of you that was.  I really hope that the kindness is returned to you sometime very soon!

Sincerely,

Mummy with the stroller, hungry toddler and lots of shopping bags

Dear Hampstead Heath,

It is Spring!  I can’t wait for lots of picnics on your lovely green grass.  You must have missed us all winter long!  Maybe this year we can join the kite flyers?

See you very soon,

Little Bee and her tricycle x

Dear London,

You are like a different city in the sunshine!! Every Spring I remember why you are my favourite place to live.  And everyone is happy now that the sun is out!  Someone pass the Pimms and lemonade….

With love,

Bee x

Cherry blossoms in Hampstead