A picture is worth a thousand words.

It is a sick day today.  It was bound to happen, just glad we dodged it during the holiday season.
All my daughter wants to do today is cuddle, watch movies and for me to read books to her.
With the lack of energy on both parts (last night was not a good sleep for the whole family), I decided to reach up to the higher shelves and dust off some of our older picture books.
They were a blessing today, and I was reminded how important they are to still include in our reading routine.
Picture books are the building blocks to language, reading and comprehension skills.  They sometimes take a backseat to the fun word filled stories that i usually read to my daughter.  However, They should not be forgotten.  The language is diluted to rich, necessary text which actually enhances vocabulary.
Simple, yet effective.  Kind of reminds me when my English teacher taught me about the acronym  K.I.S.S.  (keep it simple stupid!).  The illustrations are also more meaningful than the regular children's books  Just like the text, simple yet appealing to the imagination.
We have lots of favorite picture books, both from our own collection or from reading at the library.  I will share some of my favorites, and be sure to update once in a while.

• Wave, Suzy Lee  My most favorite wordless picture book.  The illustrations are amazing.  You will find your little one making up so many stories to go along with the pictures.  A picture is worth a thousand words is the only way one can describe this one.  Takes you right to the beach.  I can almost feel/see the waves while reading this book.
• Say Hello, Jack Foreman Simple, yet effective picture book that can be shown to such a wide age range.  Elementary teachers could easily use this book in their K-Gr8 classrooms.  Great teachable book about inclusion and sensing the emotions of others through body language.
• No David, David Shannon Kids will love reading the one tag line of this book-"No David". Kids will be be laughing out loud as they explain on each page what David is doing wrong (running outside naked, putting too much food in his mouth just to name a few). It always ends off nicely with his mom saying "yes" and giving him a big hug.  Hard not to fall in love with this curious boy. Look for all the other David books too.  
• Go Away Big Green Monster, Ed Emberley  Each page reveals one part of the face of a big green monster.  Don't worry, the monster goes away one by one as you vanish each facial feature.  This is a fun one that teaches colours and shapes.  I read a review that some kids may get scared.  Sophie usually scares pretty easily and just found it amusing.  
• Goodnight Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann  Silly Gorilla sneaks the key away from a zookeeper and opens up the cages of each animal and they all follow the zoo keeper to his home. It takes the zoo keepers wife to notice the animals in their bedroom and lead them back to their cages...with the exception of one animal that outsmarts even the smart wife.
• Press Here, Herve Tullet while not so much a traditional picture book, i decided to end off with this book, due to its fun interactive nature.  Got my daughter smiling through her sick day, and we read it more than once.  They suddenly become magicians as pressing, tapping, blowing shaking the book makes magic appear at each turn of the page.  At the end, it asks to start again, and trust me your kid will happily oblige...much to your dismay.

I am in the process of updating the little reading nook in the basement.  I found an idea on Pinterest on turning a crib mattress into a seating area.  I decided to use my nursing pillow, and a few older decorative pillows and a baby blanket to make the area more comfy.  The bookshelf is just off to the side and it has a nice window to let in natural sunlight.  I have to dig through storage to find all of the nice crib sheets that we rarely ever used to make it look appealing.