My beautiful book eating boy has just turned three and reveled in celebrations this week with a stamina that has been hard to keep up with.

I still have a fair way to go in terms of party organisation but I did manage to make some cute bunting for decoration out of some old Golden Books….

We have recently moved house and I found a great local OP shop that has a large collection of Golden Books all shelved together. They were in varing degrees of quality, some with sticky pages and others with scribble, so I didn’t feel to bad cutting them up for flags. As Golden Books are all pretty much the same size and format they are very easy to cut from one template and then I glued them onto some yellow ric rac.

We also had Ned’s favourite food – popcorn in these gorgeous bags I ordered from Etsy seller HeyYoYo 

and cute little tiger and panda decorations ordered online from My Poppet… 

And of course he did get some fabulous books which I will tell all about soon.

My favourite book of 2008 is still a favourite.

On the weekend we took a trip into town to see the Myer windows. This year they are themed around the gorgeous picture book Olivia Helps With Christmas by Ian Falconer. Olivia is one of my all time favourite picture book characters; she has spunk and a huge personality.

Ned loved the windows and kept repeating “Owivia” at the top of his voice. Although I was a little disappointed with the translation of the book to the window -but maybe I was expecting to much. The main thing is Ned had a good time.

My all time favourite Myer Christmas windows are still Wombat Divine in 2006. Does anyone else have a favourite?

Isn’t this little guy gorgeous? It’s an image from the picture book Harry and Horsie due in Australia in November.

I’m going to get it for Ned for Christmas. You can have a little peek inside on the Harper Collins US website and it is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen. The illustrations are so funky, I’m thinking I’d like to frame them up for Ned’s walls.

Harry is a little boy who undertakes a deep space adventure with his trusty toy Horsie, who he never goes anywhere without.

Ned is so keen on Space and stars and also has his pal ‘Hutchy’ who goes everywhere with him so this book sounds quite appropriate.

The Harry and Horsie story started out as a homemade gift from a nanny, Katie Van Camp for a little boy called Harry who is actually the son of David Letterman. Have a look at the gorgeous website for the book here.

If you know a 2 to 5 year old Harry, this just has to be the perfect gift!

Angelina Ballerina visited our house today as captured on mobile phone camera above. I have had the ears for years but today Ned decided he quite liked them, although he has put them on backwards.

To top off the day when I told him it was dinner time he answered “No mummy, I’m reading”!

We love irreverent picture books in our house because we can all have a laugh together. While at the beach over the weekend we bought a copy of Peek A Poo What’s In Your Nappy? by Guido Van Genechten because while we were in the shop Ned’s dad and I couldn’t stop giggling so we just knew Ned would like it too.

The main character is a mouse who is very inquisitive and decides that he would like to discover what is in each of his friends’ pants. The friends have nappies that are lift the flap so that when Mouse asks if he can have a look, it’s the reader who can reveal what is in the nappy! We see rabbit has seven pellets, dog has a poo with a pointy end, cow has ‘One big fresh cow pat’, etc

Besides the fact that we all find it terribly funny there is actually a message in the madness. When his friends ask Mouse what is in his nappy he proudly shows them that it is empty.

Mouse does his poo in the potty, he shows his friends and then they all want to have a go. Ned has related really well to the story both for its humorous style and also for its practical description of what is in the nappies and about going to the toilet. He doesn’t like going to the potty at all but will sit on the toilet and I think he thinks that they are one in the same anyway.

Like Katie says in her post about potty training books I liked this book because no one used the potty as a hat and although the Mouse likes to look in the nappy of his friends there is no playing with the contents!  The illustrations are great and it is fun to read aloud – a little gem of a book.

We took a lovely trip to the beach this weekend and enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted, walking along the pier, spotting whales, running in the park and buying too many gorgeous things at Lorne Beach Books!

Ned really enjoyed having the three of us sitting in the sun on Saturday afternoon and reading one of his favorites Imagine by Alison Lester.

I have always loved Lauren Child but Ned has suddenly fallen in love with Charlie and Lola or Charlielola (all one word) as he calls them. We need to read the books every night now and I have discovered the joys of reading Lauren Child’s original books rather than the TV adaptation books. Has anyone else found them awkward to read?

For Christmas we gave Ned a baby doll. His Granny and I spent ages in the doll isle at Kmart inspecting every doll until we came across one that we thought looks suitably like a real baby. Ned has always been fascinated by babies and the local health nurse had suggested getting a doll as a nice way to instill gentle, caring behaviour in children.  Ned christened the doll ‘Bubba’ and now Bubba goes many places with us in the stroller and gets lots of kisses and cuddles.

Yesterday while walking home from a trip to the park Ned held baby the whole way, cradling it in his arms and even holding it’s hand and gentling stroking it with his thumb, like I do to him when I hold his hand. He then eventually feel asleep still holding his baby.

It reminded me of a picture book I had once come across on the net and must track down. The book is called William’s Doll written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by William Pene du Bois, published in 1973.

The book begins;

“William wanted a doll.
 He wanted to hug it
and cradle it in his arms…”

William’s brother and the neighbours call him a sissy for wanting a doll and his father buys him all sorts of ‘boy’ toys, which he likes but he’d still like a doll. His Grandma comes to visit and she buys him a doll and explains to his father…

“so that when he’s a father like you, 
he’ll know how to take care of his baby 
and feed him 
and love him 
and bring him the things he wants, 
like a doll so that he can 
practice being a father. “

That sounds a bit harsh but good on Charlotte Zolotow for creating such a lovely picture book in a time when the concept was possibly controversial. Is it still controversial? We would love to hear from you who know this picture book and of others that challenge traditional gender roles.

Although Ned has a plethora of trains and trucks and ‘boy’ things, I’m glad that he has chosen to also nurture and care for ’Bubba’.

William’s Doll was also made into a short film, it’s quite cute –  you can see a clip of it over at good old Youtube.

||William’s Doll is available from Amazon||

 © 2008, Ward Jenkins.

I can’t stay away from Etsy. Beautiful Bookgirl is by Ward Jenkins who blogs here and whose Etsy store is here. Also check out his amazing Flickr group Retro Kid which is a collection of the funkiest children book art from the mid-1940’s through the mid-1960’s.

And here’s a Bookboy – not available from Etsy (although sometimes it’s tempting to sell him). Reading a retro Golden Book called Fury in the car.