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Thursday, November 20, 2014

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!

14 comments:

  1. What a sweet idea - and cute shirts. Baby brother is going to be well taken care of.

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  2. What a wonderful idea and such a great way to get Bree excited about the upcoming event. She will make a wonderful big sister and she will always be Grandma's girl!

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  3. LOL well at least she's prepared for him to be tiny ( referencing the 'interesting' :)

    So cute!!!!

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  4. What a great idea, she will be so happy once the baby is real. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  5. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful, sweet idea for an older child anticipating the birth of a sibling. We are glad you linked it to Make t Monday.

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  6. I love this idea!! I'll have to keep it in mind when it comes time to expand our little family. Thank you for sharing!

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  7. Your Bree is a real sweetie. I am sure she will be a terrific big sister... I love the bear and in the big brother tee. The book is a great idea! Wishing you and your family a happy Thanksgiving!

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  8. How sweet! I've loving seeing all my boys get excited for their younger siblings to arrive. I adore this idea :D Thanks for sharing this post to my blog hop <3

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  9. Great idea! So unique. Hope to read more from you.

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  10. A really great idea! We need to do this for our just born little one. Big sister is feeling a bit left out lately.

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  11. You are so talented and this is such a terrific project to benefit both children. Bree will be a wonderful big sister and they will have a bond that will last forever. This little boy doesn't know how lucky he is to be joining this wonderful, loving family. :-)

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  12. I love how she draws herself as so giant, she covers the whole page! In the child psychology class I had to take, they would say that means she has a healthy self esteem!

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  13. What a sweet idea. She is adorable. :)

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