“A birthday present that got opened again the next morning.”

My daughter sent me a photo of them reading it in their pyjamas. That made my day.

“She didn’t even ask for one.”

We all sat down and read it to her, and she wanted to put her dummy on the tree straight away.

“We read it a few times before doing the tree.”

She wanted to hang her dummy up herself, then remembered the spare in the car and made us get that one too 😂 We were more nervous about bedtime than she was.

“She keeps checking that it’s really her.”

This is the first one she’s taken into daycare to show everyone.

“She asked for her dummy at bedtime and we reminded her about the tree.”

Had a cuddle and read the book again. It wasn’t completely fuss free, but it went better than I’d been imagining.

“I’m in Perth and my granddaughter is in Melbourne.”

Her mum sent me a little video of her opening it. She kept asking how Nanny got her into the book. Very happy with this present.

“The cover preview was what sold me.”

Seeing her face on the cover before paying made it much easier to decide.

“The silver star was a very big deal in our house.”

She took it to show Nan and told her the whole story. We’d been talking about giving up the dummy for ages, so it was lovely seeing her proud of herself.

“Bought it thinking we’d put it away until she was ready.”

She found it and wanted it read that night. Haven’t done the goodbye yet, but she keeps asking about the tree.

“Apparently his dinosaur phase now includes him.”

He spent the first read looking for himself on every page.

“Bought one for each of the grandkids.”

The youngest wanted to read her sister’s first, of course. They spent ages looking through both and finding themselves.

“He made me read it twice while he sat on the potty.”

Nothing happened either time lol. But normally he won’t sit there at all, so I’ll take it.

“We brought it to Nan’s. Obviously.”

She packed it herself, with her teddy and about six pairs of socks.

“Still plenty of washing happening here, but he loves this book.”

He points to himself and says ‘I can do that’. We keep it in the bathroom now.

“He wanted to read it while sitting on the potty.”

Nothing happened, but he was happy to have a go.

“Gave this to my niece for her birthday.”

She was busy with the wrapping paper at the time, but my sister messaged later to say they’d already read it three times.

“I liked that it wasn’t all about getting it right.”

We read it after a fairly unsuccessful morning and it was a nice way to reset. He mostly wanted to talk about the bunny.

“We haven’t said goodbye to the dummy yet.”

She asks about the dummy tree when we read it. Having a story to talk about has helped.

“She opened it and said ‘that girl has my hair’.”

Then we read her name and she worked it out. Had to call Dad in from outside to show him immediately.

“He spotted his name before I even opened it.”

He went straight over to Dad to show him. Such a lovely little moment.

“Put a message from me and her grandad in the front.”

She asks us to read that bit too, which I wasn’t expecting. Really pleased we added it.

“Wasn’t sure what to expect from the photo part.”

Tried a photo where he was looking straight at the camera and the preview came out lovely. Glad I could see it before ordering.

“The message at the front got me.”

I had a little moment over the first page.

“Our son is dinosaur mad.”

First time through we barely got to read any of it because he kept pointing things out. Including himself, on every single page.

“He calls it ‘the me book’.”

It’s been coming from the bedroom to the couch and back again all week. I’m getting quite good at reading it with him turning the pages too early.