Labor of Love

I've been meaning to put up pictures of the quiet books for ages. Finally, here they are! There are three books total, but I already posted the seasons one. The other two don't have themes. Here are the pages! We didn't use patterns for any of them, but most are inspired by another page somewhere.

These two pages are an artist's pallet with a paint brush and paint blobs that velcro on. They can be put on the facing page (a frame on an easel) and then matched by color back to the pallet. Or the paint brush can be used to paint any picture the imagination decides.

This one is a monkey with a zipper for a mouth. It comes with a couple of bananas that he can eat (and are then stored in his mouth).

This one is a fish bowl with plastic sheeting over it. Then it has three fish, a star fish and a jelly fish that can go in and out of the bowl.

Here is a tool box that has a wrench, saw, screwdriver and hammer in it, along with a tool bench on the facing page for all sorts of projects. 

Of course this little guy is Jude. He's got a collar to practice buckling, and the "I love my dog" keychain has a carabiner on the end that he can use to clip onto the ring of the collar.

Mom worked really hard on this page, it's the Itsy Bitsy Spider nursery rhyme. The spider is on a long string so he can climb up the water spout. But...

Open the spout and flip up the piece with the flower and the rain comes down to wash the spider out! Put the pieces back where they belong and Itsy can climb the spout after all.

The last page in this book is a jacket with a zipper to practice on.

And now for the second book!

The first page in the second book is a rotary dial phone. The dial really spins and the phone has a magnet in the ear piece to hold it in the cradle. It's just like the one in our basement, except a pretty shade of blue instead of plain old brown. Luca gets calls all the time on it, but they never seem to be for him. He is also happy to call other people on your behalf, and then tell you about it as he's handing you the phone.

First is a mailbox with a flag that can go up and down, and a door that opens and shuts with a magnetic closure. Right now the mail in it is from his Christmas mailbox, so the letter is from Santa and tells him to be good. But since he can't read every time Luca is asked who the letter is to or what it says he comes up with a new answer. The next page is a little laundry line with one sock in each pair hanging on the line, and the matching socks in the basket at the bottom. They have magnets in them so they will connect to their mate.

On the left side is a little airplane who can hide behind the sun/cloud, the clouds, the hot air balloon, or stay in the hangar. On the next page is a six piece puzzle of a tree. Eventually I might make more pieces for a different picture.

This is one of his favorite pages. The barn has doors that open and close, and inside it are finger puppets of a chicken, pig, cow and horse. The cow has a "fluffy" tail which Luca thinks is funny. He likes to hand everyone a puppet and then ask what their names are. The facing page is a matching shape game with snaps.

This page is a shoe to practice lacing and tying a bow. At this point Luca mostly enjoys putting his foot or hand inside the shoe and laughing. The next page is his other very favorite. It's a treasure chest (with working lock and key). Inside is some gold coins and a treasure map. When mom made it she thought she was putting sharks in the middle, but the first time Luca looked at it he said they were ships (they do look like sails). So you go by the pirates (the skull and crossbones in the corner), then through the ships, under the coconut tree, over the island, and then you're there!

The first page on this spread is a tic-tac-toe board. The little drawstring bag is hooked onto a ring so it can't get lost. The second page is a flower with petals that are held on with buttons. The loose petals can be stored inside the flower pot.

Finally there is a page with beads on a string that can be slid back and forth for counting. The last page is a maze with a marble sewn in. On one side of the page you can see the path easily, on the other side the thread (and path) is harder to see. Luca pushes the marble along the path.

And that is our big project that took lots of time but has even more love! Of course, I'm already thinking up the next book. And we'll need to add some "girly" pages when Tessa gets bigger. I love never ending projects! =)