Just Practicing!

It's all over but the waiting. And the wondering! Baby brother is closing in on us, due to arrive once Santa has cleared out of the way. Big sister is ready, anxious to see what he'll look like and how long it will be before she can begin actually having fun with him. There's been a family effort, too, to assure Brielle that she will never be replaced by this curious little newcomer. Instead, the two of them will become a team. They will help each other. Baby brother will need her. To fetch things for him. To teach him things. And to read to him.

Cover design by Big Sister!

My contribution to this evolving dynamic is "Baby Brother's Book." Bree is a pre-school student, just now learning letters and sounds. I've been complementing those skills with sight word flash card practice. Bree is a quick learner, picking them up with lightening speed, making it easy for me to construct sentences from an inventory of twenty or so words. I type pages on plain paper, leaving room for her original crayoned and painted illustrations:

"Baby brother and me."
"Come see me and baby brother go up."
"Look! I can help baby brother jump."

Interesting! The lovely "larger-than-life" author is
self portrait-ed wearing splendid jewelry
and a mile-wide smile. Little bro is the
tiny blue birdlike bundle in left
bottom corner!

Then I scrapbook pages together in a home made effort that I hope will appeal to them both.

Colorful ribbon scraps tied along the spine through a row of paper punched holes make a cheerful presentation. It's also easy to add new pages as more words are learned.

And now we're practicing. And waiting....getting ready to be a proud and helpful big sister who will welcome little brother home with the priceless gift of reading!