Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program

This summer we participated in Barnes & Noble Summer Reading program and received the following free books:

This was our first time reading from the Pete the Cat series, and I was surprised my daughter was able to read it from beginning to end with no help.  The story is nice, it emphasizes "trying" as opposed to winning.

I love the National Geographic Kids books.  My little one loves these book as well, we read them together and she loves learning about animals with these books.

This book was a little challenging, so I helped her with this one.  Lots of big vocabulary words, as well as a smaller text size than most beginner level readers.

My little one loves watching PBS so it was great that this book was a freebie as well.  I absolutely LOVE that it is bilingual.  She read the English while I read the Spanish.

We haven't read this one yet, but I picked it up anyway as one day she will be reading chapter books with less pictures.  Not sure about the topic though, we haven't discussed death, even animal death, but hey it was free.

This is a chapter book with lots of black and white illustrations, we are reading this one chapter at a time.  So far its a cool little story.

The summer is over and it was nice to get these free books.  My little girl is only 3 years old and is reading on a 1st grade level, so you know I am buy books left and right.  This program helped me save some money for the summer.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Breastfeeding

Jada just became my favorite breastfeeding celebrity.  Not a fan of the kids music but hey, its all good.  Recently she was quoted as saying this about nursing: 


“When I’m with my kids I’m creating but I’m still a mom. I don’t wear two different hats. My kids have always been on the set with me. I was breastfeeding on set. None of my kids would take a bottle so they could not leave my side for a very long time.”


Sounds a little like her own very version of what some are calling "attachment parenting" to me.  I love it.  

And back when she was pregnant with Willow she was also outspoken about nursing.  When asked how long she nursed Jaden she said this: 


"A good 18 months. That baby never even saw a bottle. He went everywhere with me — premieres, award shows. I would just find a back room and hook him up."

Yes it would have been nice if she didn't have to find a "back room" and promoted nursing in public but hey, I'm still impresed!  Not only is she a beautiful black woman with a great career and powerhouse family, she nursed into toddlerhood and was able to manage career and motherhood with exclusive breastfeeding.  Go head mama!  I'm a fan!