Stickers are a huge hit with little gosling, although it takes some patience to have him think through what he places where, instead of just rushing to unstick and stick them wherever, just for the sheer pleasure of it :)))). His fine motor skills are slowly catching up; he’s getting better at this every time. He loved completing images of the natural world and he was so excited to see the hedgehogs… we had to do the hedgehogs :))) !! Then, we realised the mummy hedgehog had an apple stuck on its back, just like Isaac, in that book! Sooo, he couldn’t resist picking it up from the book bin – which he did at a very brisk pace :))). 

Isaac is a solitary hedgehog living under an apple tree. When one autumn day an apple falls from the tree and gets stuck on his back he desperately tries, to no avail, to get it off.. When a very chatty, apple loving donkey helps him out, he realises that, maybe, it’s not so bad after all, to make friends.. And that’s what he does. Little gosling excitedly anticipates the noises made by the falling apples and imitates what must have been little Isaac’s movements to see what got stuck to his back. And mummy just loves the donkey’s rumbling about different sorts of apples and all the tasty treats one can make with apples..yummmyyyy !!! 

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The characters, partly living in their animal way, partly humanised, and their stories are very much relatable still today. The stories depict ordinary moments in their lives with an incredible level of detail, both in text and illustrations, and the natural life descriptions are simply fascinating. The illustrations are incredibly accurate and feel so very real… I love the Jane Austen-like language (not to forget they were written more than a century ago) and clothing, the subtle humour and irony in it, and little gosling enjoys the rhythm and flow of the stories. He’s becoming more and more interested in the illustrations, as well. The flowery phrasing notwithstanding, I find the stories’ very rich vocabulary practical for early learning. I also enjoyed the free audible version of the stories, but little gosling seems to prefer mommy’s voice and interpretation still, especially when I’m attempting voices :))). 

“The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher” talks about a frog going fishing for minnows for dinner with his friends, a lizard (Sir Isaac Newton!!!) and a tortoise. Mr Jeremy loves having his feet wet; he uses a water-lily leaf as boat, a grass stalk and a horse hair for fishing tackle. The detailed description of the preparations and all that happens during the hours that he spends waiting for the fish to catch is simply amazing: from the way in which the frog moves, arranges its fishing tackle or moves its boat, to the encounters with a stickleback and a dangerously hungry big trout. It’s subtly humorous and totally delightful. Of course, Mr Jeremy’s attire has its significance in the story. Had he not been wearing a macintosh, which the hunter trout found disgusting, he would have been eaten. And one of little gosling’s favourite illustrations is that of a water beetle tweaking one of the frogs’ galoshes (one of my new favourite English words :)). He is also fascinated by the frog eating a butterfly sandwich ;). How cool is that?! However, I’ll remember the book as coining “apa-lily”, the Romanian-English word for “waterlily”, in one of our early explorations of the story.   

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit” follows a naughty little rabbit doing the exact opposite of what his mom asks (little gosling notices that with excitement ;)), which is wandering about in the vegetable garden of the man who ate Peter’s dad in a pie. Of course, the rabbit gets discovered and goes through such misery to find his way back home. He loses his blue jacket and shoes in the process and they are turned into a scarecrow. Little gosling suffers along Peter in his fright and desperation and has a few favourite illustrations: Peter hiding inside a water can (he loves watering the plants and generally, playing with water; he now goes around the house with a small green water can asking to do all kinds of things with it); a white cat looking at goldfish, occasionally twitching its tail; Mrs. Rabbit serving exhausted Peter chamomile tea (he loves making tea) or the moment when Peter finally spots the gate to get out of the garden (that’s a moment of surprised happiness every time :)))). 

“The Tale of Tom Kitten” follows three kittens who, as kids have it, can’t sit still and get dirty and mess their nice attire, especially put out by their mom for tea with her friends. Three ducks put on the clothes, but also lose them the moment they get into the water. Tom Kitten’s little face when dressed by her mom in a tiny, tight suit is absolutely precious! The ducks and the mom are a delight; such vanity and silliness are quite amusing. And little gosling’s favourite part… well, it’s about kittens :))) and the duck walk, “pit pat waddle pat”. 

“The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck” is my favourite among the four. I love reading it. I find the idea of a duck so silly as to trust a fox (however well-dressed, civil and handsome) to house her nest away from the farm and that of a fox stuffing and cooking a roasted duck with all due spices delightful. The detailed description of Jemima attempting to fly with a flapping shawl and bonnet  and of the fox patiently luring the duck are so masterful. Love, love, love it. Little gosling likes ducks and he likes foxes, so….and he seems intrigued to see them so curiously dressed. 

I’ll happily complete our Beatrix Potter collection, but would also like to try a different book layout. And I am really looking forward to checking out Emma Thompson’s new Peter Rabbit story! 

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At the end of almost four sunny, warm, summer-like weeks, rain and chill had a comeback. However this only meant we’d take our daily walk dressed a bit warmer. A good occasion to try the new baskets (that little gosling had wanted me to return since he saw them in the delivery box, without even trying them on) and wear his new spring/autumn jacket. Little gosling determinedly marked the pace and direction; instead of going, as usual, through the string of parks close to home, he had us wander the streets. 

First he wanted to see the excavator (“efekelu” in his own words) helping rearrange part of one of the streets close to home. It’s been a must see for some weeks now, he’s completely fascinated by it. It was already past working hours so all was quiet and he quickly lost interest. Then we stopped at every house to say hello to the plants: “hello white flowers!”; “hello pink flowers!” If, by any chance, the small courtyard or garden in front of the house was unlocked, he made me chase him out of there laughing and giggling. We guessed the colour of every car parked on the side of the street – lots of grey and beige (a new word and colour little gosling learnt on the occasion), until we finally ended up in a park. 

Strolling down the alleys he almost kicked something that to him resembled a little stone: it was a snail!!! Crossing the alley. We squatted down together and I started singing “melc, melc, codobelc….”. The snail first withdrew in its shell; we had invaded its space. Little gosling got up and quickly got away. He was scared. A couple of steps further, another snail! This time, we left a little bit more space and sat down, looking at its slow crawl across the alley. I showed baby the shell, the body, the tentacles and sang some more. He was interested for quite some time. More families with small kids approached, so we moved on, but spent the rest of the walk looking out for more snails. We spotted one more. 

On our way home, we passed the two flower circles that had been full of blooming beautiful pink and yellow (“lăuă”) tulips over the past weeks. A bit of rain and wind and all petals had fallen on the ground and stalks laid bare. Little gosling was so sad… He used to spend many minutes looking at the flowers and running in circles around them. I remember the first time he brought a petal to me, asking what it was, he laughed so hard; he found the word “petal” terribly amusing. Now he was like “ooohhh…petals fall… mommy put back petals”. I explained that was not possible and that tulips had reached the end of their life cycle. I don’t know what he made of it, but he repeated “put back petals noo”.  

At home, after we told daddy all about our walk, little gosling looked with interest at “Escargot”: a silly, endearing and entertaining monologue of a charming, playful and somewhat vain French snail (dressing the iconical Breton shirt) who tries to convince the reader to choose it as favorite animal and race it to the delicious salad with croutons and light vinaigrette at the end of the book (story by Dashka Slater, illustrations by Sydney Hanson). Lovely, simple illustrations showing a truly beautiful (who suddenly, is not so slimy anymore) snail, that can make one fall in love with this tiny animal. It’s so fun to act it out and the French words here and there make the enterprise more amusing. Little gosling loved the image of the snail hiding in its shell and thought it was playing peek-a-boo :))). 

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It is an endearing story of lonely Noi taking care of a little whale he finds washed ashore on the beach next to his house following a storm and befriending it, until he returns it to the sea together with his father. Beautiful illustrations, in warm, touching colours, of the coastline and the sea accompany the story. Noi teaches kids about kindness, gentleness and helpfulness; he is so thoughtful with the little whale, taking it home and into his bathtub, where he plays records of water music and tells it stories of life on the island. His longing for a friend is beautifully reflected in both text and illustrations (he can’t stop painting whales). His dad also does a great job in handling the situation. The result is a moving reflection of a loving dad-son relationship. I particularly love the images of their time spent together: a picnic in a vantage point on the coast, from where Noi can enjoy the bread and jam sandwich his dad prepared and watch the whales. 

Little gosling keeps looking for the lighthouse on each page. He likes the domestic images, carefully observing Noi’s dad preparing the sandwiches and identifying the different items. And, funny story, his little brain started thinking about plurals on this book. He opens the double page with the little whale in the bathtub and starts counting the Nois (one, two three Noi) and the bathtubs: one cada, two “cadas”, using the English plural on the Romanian word. I’m so looking forward to the language mix-up he’s bound to do in the next years, cause it sounds so funny and original :))). 

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