• Reading with Walnuts Archive

    My 4-year-old has a definite sweet tooth, and her latest sugary obsession is Pez (remember those candies that come in their own dispenser?). Because she covets her Hello Kitty Pez like it’s gold, she has a hard time sharing with her big sis (who also loves Pez, but not nearly as much). During a recent battle at the dinner table, my little one reluctantly agreed to give her sister some of her treats…but the biggest surprise came the following day when her sister graciously brought home some leftover coloring sheets for her art class. As my girls have come to learn, a kind gesture like sharing something with others–especially something you love–doesn’t go unnoticed and sometimes yields its own reward. This is the perfect lesson [&hellip

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    Psst! Yeah, you. Can you keep a secret? OK, here it goes….my house is a mess! I mean, no matter how much I try to move the newspapers into the recycling bin, the toys into their bins, the laundry into the dressers, I just can’t keep up. And since I work from home, I feel guilty that our home isn’t as tidy as it could be. Barbara Reich must know just how I feel. Her just-released book, Secrets of an Organized Mom, speaks to me in a way that doesn’t make me feel so terrible about my chaotic household. Instead it leaves me with practical tips that don’t require a fancy smancy organizing system–just some common sense. Reich’s how-to book breaks down the otherwise arduous [&hellip

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    How are you staying warm this winter? If you enjoy hunkering down and cozying up with a good book in hand, you’re in good company. According to the folks at Honeywell, there are plenty of satisfying reads making this winter’s top 10 list. Whether you’re settling in for the night with a dog-eared copy of Fifty Shades of Grey (or are admitting to it) or you’ve just downloaded the new J.K. Rowling onto your Kindle, you’ll want to keep warm and toasty as you dive into a new read. Honeywell is offering the chance to win one of six $50 Amazon gift cards and an EnergySmart 360 Surround Heater. Enter to win by clicking on the book list link. Good luck! Tags: Amazon giftcard giveaway, [&hellip

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    Spring training is well underway, and myriads of baseball fans are snatching up season tickets in anticipation of Opening Day. As all this snow slowly melts away and thoughts turn to warmer days, it’s only natural that kids will want to grab their mitts and throw the ball around with Dear Old Dad. Just because my baseball enthusiasm is limited to catching an occasional game on TV (more when my dad was alive) doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the peanuts and crackerjacks part of the experience (wink, wink). But for those of you bona fide baseball fans who’ll go to the ends of the earth (or so it seems) to defend your home team’s honor, comes a delightful new picture book that will resonate with [&hellip

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    Eight-plus years into the parenting game, and I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Whenever I think I’ve finally figured things out with my 8- and 4-year-old, WHAM!–they go and pull a fast one on me. The younger one lovvvves Double Noodle soup? I stock up at the store…only to have her tell me she “no longer likes the noodles ’cause they’re too long.” The older one showing signs of being more independent? Suddenly she can’t go 15 minutes by herself without wandering into the kitchen to “find out what you’re doing.” (Laundry, kid. It’s just not that exciting.) I know I should feel like a pro after this many years on the job, but I continue to live and learn…and take [&hellip

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    Our next-door neighbor has been renovating his home for the past six months. Thanks to Superstorm Sandy and some other setbacks, it’s been taking a lot longer than expected. But because he is such a kindhearted guy (and always apologizing for the noise and commotion), we could never truly be angry with him. So when I opened the pages of Wooby & Peep new picture book, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder–had someone been spying on us these last few months? Did the author see when a tree guy was removing some broken limbs from next door and accidentally knocked over our garden fence? Let’s just say that sometimes neighborly mishaps make for new friends…like they do in this charming tale where a [&hellip

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    Just last week, we celebrated the New Year by purging our bookshelves. “Out with the old, and in with the new,” as they say. My 8-year-old was happy to make room on her shelves for some new Dork Diaries by passing picture books on to her younger sister. And for my 4-year-old, that meant departing with some baby board books in order to accommodate the hand-me-downs. I admit that I hate to give up any books, much less ones that I’ve read over and over to my girls until I could recite them in my sleep (and some nights, I think I’ve done just that). For any parent of a baby/toddler looking for a new title to commit to memory–something that may be a step [&hellip

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    Just before the holidays, I managed to catch up with an old friend. After updating each other on our families’ lives, she told me about her toddler son who wasn’t speaking and talking like other kids similar in age. After having him evaluated, she learned that he was speech delayed and began taking the proper steps to get him the extra help he needed. Oddly enough, we had just learned of a new speech/language service specifically designed to help parents like my friend work with their child and boost their verbal development. The beauty of Language Launchers‘ subscription-based service for ages 0-2 is that it gets mailed directly to your home, and you can use it at your own pace with your child. We got [&hellip

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    Now that all the gifts have been unwrapped and all the guests have gone home, we finally get a chance to catch our breath and enjoy my favorite part of the post-holiday madness: sitting down with a hot cup of tea and looking at all the presents we so hurriedly tore open (and just as quickly dropped) so we could ask “what’s next?” In the flurry of activity that is Christmas Day, now I can actually take the time to see what my kids received and pore over their every detail. I must admit that the books they acquire are among my favorite gifts, both to give and to receive. I gave my mom the new Capturing Camelot book, since she is a die-hard Kennedy [&hellip

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    Show a preschooler who doesn’t like to play pretend, and I’ll show you a mouse who doesn’t like cheese. An analogy out of left field? Well, that’s just the kind of mindset you’ll have to adopt if you plan to visit Goon Holler. It’s the fictional, wild world of a new wacky read by the creators of the Yo Gabba Gabba brand. (Know any preschooler who hasn’t heard of that?) The Goon Holler Guidebook is ideal for kids who may have moved on from the likes of Foofa and Plex, and are ready for more silliness with a side of smarts. Part songbook, cookbook and comic book, this cool, colorful book offers up plenty of fun for the five-and-over crowd, as they journey along with [&hellip

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