Monkeying Around

I’ll let you in on a secret. When I was pregnant and was supposed to have been listening to good relaxing music (preferably classical) every day, I was watching back to back episodes of the show, Bones. Granted, a show about forensics wasn’t the most appropriate for me to watch at the time, but as it turns out, a little nursery rhyme I learned from the show is now Keerthana’s favorite!

 
It’s about jumping monkeys falling off the bed until there are “no more monkeys jumping on the bed”. I either carry her and jump around or sit her in my lap and bounce her around while singing it. It makes her laugh every single time. Here’s how it goes:

Ten little monkeys jumping on the bed,

One fell down and broke his head.

Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Nine little monkeys jumping on the bed,

One fell down and broke his head.

Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

 

… (Count down to one)

 

One little monkey jumping on the bed,

One fell down and broke his head.

Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

 There are

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

 

Here’s a picture of her jumping on my lap while I sing this song. You can’t see it in the picture, but her onesie says “Mommy’s Silly Monkey” on it. Fun, fun, fun!

Peek-a-boo Forest

This cloth book is a delight. The fun starts at the cover. There is a big picture of an owl whose head and beak are made of a soft, velvety material stuffed with something crinkly. Crinkly is the theme of the book. Actually, its about animals that you would see in a forest, hiding behind crinkly flaps that you would say "Peek-a-boo!" before revealing. However, my reading of this book with Keerthana typically goes like this:

Me: Let's read Peek-a-boo-forest!

(Keerthana busily hitting the poor owl on the cover)

Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

Me (pulling her away from the owl and turning the page): Who is hiding behind the spruce?

(Keerthana tugging at the flap that was supposed to hide a moose)

Crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

(Big smile on Keerthana's face)

Crinkle, crinkle (more vigorously)

(Keerthana gives out a squeal and starts hitting the book)

Crinkle, crinkle. crinkle

Me (uselessly): Peek-a-boo! Its the moose!

And so on for the rest of the book. The back cover talks about object permanence and other childrens development milestones around the 6 month time frame. For Keerthana it's all about the sounds the book makes. For me it's all about the wonderful smile it brings to her face.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

"Set a reading time for your baby every day from now to when she leaves for college" – Baby 411

Of all the advice I got as a first time mom, this is my favorite. When Keerthana turned one month old and I felt more human than zombie, I started to read to her. Her first book was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This book caught my eye long before I became a mother because of its brilliant illustrations. The story of a tiny and very hungry caterpillar looking for food and eating one new thing every day is simple, but Eric Carle manages to sneak in a ton of great things in it. The days of the week, numbers up to five, names of fruit, and even a message about getting sick after eating junk food and feeling much better after eating a "nice green leaf". The neat thing is, the book grows with the baby! At one month, Keerthana’s favorite page was the title page with the colorful circles. She would look at it longer than the other pages. Now she is 4 months old, and she loves it when I run her hands over the holes in the pages and loves to flip the pages around. This book is definitely a favorite for both Mommy and baby!