Growing up my mom always pushed all of us to read. As first generation immigrants my mom wanted to make sure we didn\u2019t fall behind at any point in the newly adopted American education system. We made frequent trips to the library and returned home with piles of books. There was a time when she made us just pull out words from the dictionary and learn random words.\u00a0 Somewhere along this journey I fell in love with reading I think it took until about freshman year of High School for me to really enjoy a good book.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve entered the realm of motherhood I have always had a strong desire for my children to grow a fondness of reading.\u00a0 Since Ray was born I have been reading to him and since he was six months I have been taking him to our local library and of course JJ joined along the ride as well since he was born.\u00a0 We read at least one book a day before bedtime usually it stretches out to more than one book, well because Ray is three now and he\u2019ll do ANYTHING to delay bedtime!<\/p>\n

Here are my top three books:<\/p>\n

Girl, Wash Your Face \u2013 Rachel Hollis: This was such a fun and inspirational self-growth book.\u00a0 It was a solid smack and wake up call to stop letting people and circumstances in life control your life and to get up and work at your dreams!<\/p>\n

Raising Cane \u2013 Dan Kindlon PhD and Michael Thomson PhD: I absolutely loved this read.\u00a0 I am reading this book again.\u00a0 This is a reference book for me as I raise my boys.\u00a0 If you are a boy mom I highly recommend this book.\u00a0Having been raised in a household of ONLY girls and then having boys of my own I knew there would be a learning curve.\u00a0This book is a guide into how societies concept of masculinity plays such a strong role in impacting a boy\u2019s life leading to anger, fear and sadness. This book also breaks down the years of theories behind testosterone and boy biology.<\/p>\n

Love in the Time of Cholera \u2013 Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This book is quite the emotional rollercoaster a love story to pull at your heartstrings.\u00a0 I love the style of Gabriel Garcia\u2019s writing his descriptive writing grasps you into the book and makes you feel like you\u2019re actually witnessing every single scene in person.<\/p>\n

Here are some of my favorite Activity Workbooks for the boys: (Ages 2 and up)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1.) Kumon Workbooks Series<\/p>\n

\n
• My book of Coloring<\/li>\n
• My book of Uppercase Letters<\/li>\n
• Let\u2019s Sticker & Paste<\/li>\n
• Tracing Book<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  2.) School Zone- Big Preschool Workbook<\/p>\n

  3.) Brain Quest Workbook \u2013 Pre K<\/p>\n

  We love to buy fun activity books from all kinds of different brands for the holidays! It’s the best way to get into the holiday spirit! \u00a0Our most recent purchase for Halloween were these fun activity books from our local Fred Meyers grocery store:<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  -Priddy Books- Reusable stickers used to decorate pumpkins, haunted house, etc.<\/p>\n

  -Sweets & Treats Halloween themed book (lots of stickers and coloring in this one) the boys get to decorate cupcakes and cakes with the stickers provided in the book.<\/p>\n

  -Bloomsbury Activity Books- Again LOTS of stickers<\/p>\n

  All of these activity books give the kids an opportunity to be creative and best thing of all it keeps toddlers occupied for a long time.\u00a0 Any constructive activity that helps to avoid screen time is a bonus in our household.<\/p>\n

  Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned in this post? How do you motivate your toddlers for less screen time and more activities? Feel free to share in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Growing up my mom always pushed all of us to read. As first generation immigrants my mom wanted to make sure we didn\u2019t fall behind at any point in the newly adopted American education system. We made frequent trips to the library and returned home with piles of books. There was a time when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19862723],"tags":[178,13105448,4089,1473,124326],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n