Offsetting the weather with good books

If the weather has been anywhere near as bad for you as it has for my corner of London, you won’t have had the chance to get out to enjoy the sunshine much. Like a lot of my friends with kids in our area, we’ve often found ourselves indoors tucked up with a good book quite often recently.

So when it isn’t raining, we’ve been venturing out to the library to stock up – and it has turned into something of a social occasion for Milo and I. We are guaranteed to bump into someone we know. Often we’ll realise that a book we’re returning is sought after by our friends or vice versa.

At the moment we’re finding that we really depend on the library because we can’t really afford to keep buying things for Milo, and this seems to be the same for a lot of people I know. My friend and I were chatting about how much books aren’t just for reading but are also activities or toys - especially at the age our babies are at the moment (her little girl is just a couple of months older than Milo).

It’s true – lots of books for babies aren’t just about the words and pictures. They are also crammed full of opportunities to discover new things, by lifting flaps, pulling tabs or simply by offering different textures for little hands to try.

You’ll find as many of these books as you need at a well-stocked library – which makes it something of a treasure trove for keeping your little ones occupied. The only issue I have with Milo is that he tends to put them in him mouth a lot. This seems to be coming to an end thank goodness but with the right book (and the plastic covers at the library) it isn’t too much of a problem!