Favorite Activities at Nearly 2

Jules is nearly two! His birthday is coming up on Saturday, 17 September, and so I wanted to record some of his favorite activities of the moment.

Playing with balls - kicking and throwing - is very high up on the like list. We have a session with balls most evenings during the 6 o'clock news.

He also loves reading, and is happy now to read alone or together with us. He probably reads, or has read to him, between 5 and 10 books a day. I've taken to having him read on our bed while I am getting ready for work in the morning. This is working pretty well. Some favorite books are:

- the "Fire truck" book - which is a book of vehicles (he loves fire trucks)

- Wheels on the Bus

- Down by the Bay

- Go Dog, Go!

- Mr McGee and the Biting Flea

- Dear Zoo

It's so neat to see how much he learns from the books,too, as well as getting enjoyment out of them. For example, whenever he has an itch or we talk about someone being itchy, he says "Gee" for Mr McGee. When we're driving and he wants to give me something, I ask him to look out the window to see if we're going or if we're stopped. He says, "Go....Goggy." Meaning, we're going like the dogs go in our book, "Go Dog, Go!" He is really enjoying making connections between what he reads and what he sees out in the world.

Another favorite activity is the evening bath. He loves playing in the water with his duckies, dolphins, penguin etc. And at the moment, he really doesn't

want to get out of the bath once it's time to be done. He cries every evening when bathtime is finished. The only thing he doesn't like is getting his hair washed.

A new activity lately is pretend play. We just got him a bus that plays the song "Wheels on the Bus" and a tea set, and he's really enjoying playing tea party with the little bus people. And also playing bus ride, as he and I have been taking the bus every week for the past three weeks when we go to Takapuna for Mainly Music.