Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
I love to read. Even with all the time that I spend reading all day long, I still enjoy unwinding and relaxing with a good book where I can get lost in the story and characters. I love to write too, so the storytelling of other writers both fascinates and frustrates me (frustrating mostly when I catch typos that writers and editors both neglected to discover in the editing process)…

So I love that Andrew also seems to share my enthusiasm for reading. Right now he has memorized a handful of books and “reads” them to me. The other day, he told me to lay down in bed so he could read me to sleep. It was really cute, but also really cool that he would want to reverse our bedtime ritual so he could get in on the reading.

Andrew is currently obsessed with the Little Mister and Little Miss books we read when we were kids. It’s cool that he wants books instead of toys (occasionally – not always) as his presents from Bob the Bed Fairy. (Yes, Bob is still around. We haven’t kicked the crawling into our bed in the middle of the night habit yet).

Andrew likes to read the same books over and over again until he has them memorized and then tells US that we are reading the story wrong because he wants to tell the story HIS way. It’s hard to say no to reading to him, even when I can barely bring myself to re-read the same words one more time.

So, this brings me to the point of my post. I’m going to combine three things I love: writing, reading and my son. I’m going to write him some stories. Jaime originals. Yes, in all my free time. We’ll see how this goes – wish me luck!

Have a great weekend everyone

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I have been reading to Haley since she was fairly young. For a while, it seemed pointless. Then just frustrating. She didn’t seem to care about the activity, batting at the books and flinging them when given the opportunity. Over time, though, she has started to really enjoy story time. I read to her twice a day, before her naps. We have a routine going. I change her diaper, rub baby lotion on her legs, put her wearable sleep blanket on her, and show her which book we’re going to read. Her face always lights up!

Haley is really good at turning the pages and likes to stare at all of the pictures. We have one book called Baby’s Best Friend, which contains Anne Geddes-style photographs of babies with animals. Haley seems to stare at these pages the longest, and sometimes lets out a giggle. It’s really adorable. She also paws her hands over the appropriate areas of the touch-and-feel books. Earlier today, she was doing a sort of humming-thing while I was reading to her. She does that sometimes when I sing to her, as if she’s joining in. Maybe she’s starting to remember the rhythm of the sounds of the story and is trying to replicate it- how cool! Clearly, she is getting something out of it.

According to researchers at the University of Michigan, reading to an infant is an essential building block of phonemic awareness (being able to hear, identify and play with sounds in spoken words), phonics (connecting written language to verbal language), vocabulary and fluency. Hearing and seeing many different words helps them become better speakers. It’s a great way for babies to learn concepts like colors, shapes, numbers and letters. More generally, it’s important to instill in children a love of books so they are successful in their education.

It’s great to know that an activity that I enjoy for bonding and establishing a routine for Haley is having such a positive impact on her future. Once again, I’m seeing how my focus is shifting from simply ensuring she’s cared for to encouraging her to thrive and exceed her potential. Good thing, too. Helping her develop new skills is a lot more fun than disinfecting baby bottles.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Today marks what would have been Dr. Seuss’ 107^th birthday.  It’s also National Read Across America Day.  This amazing writer and cartoonist is highly rated in our home as well as many other homes, libraries, and book sellers.  His work was not only innovative, but creatively expressed his own social and political opinions.  Jack’s bookshelf is stocked full of many Dr. Seuss books.  Mysteriously,  the books always seem to disappear under his bed.  I recently learned that after I kiss Jack goodnight, he likes to look at all the pictures even if he can’t read the words yet.

When I picked Jack up from preschool yesterday the first thing out of his mouth was “Mommy, tomorrow is Dr. Seuss’ birthday.”  I asked him if his class was going to celebrate his birthday by reading one of his books.  He replied, “Yes, we are going to read a bunch of books, play games and the best part we are even going to eat green eggs and ham.”  I find this hysterical for two reasons, One because green eggs are funny and Two because Jack can’t stand either eggs or ham.  Hmmm.. maybe I should change the color of peas and green beans to blue?

I am looking forward to hearing how Dr. Seuss’ birthday celebration goes in Jack’s class today.  We will surely read several of his books before bed tonight.  I hope you can read one or two today as well to share in the merriment.  Go on and make your own green eggs and ham for breakfast!

Our local library holds a class every other week for two and three year olds called Toddler Time.  During the class, the librarian reads the children a book and afterward they all participate in a craft that is related to what the book was about.  I took advantage of this a several weeks ago and am so glad I did.  Jack absolutely loves it!

This week’s class was about dragonflies.  Jack didn’t know what that specific insect was, but he knew what a dragon was and what a fly was.  He was a little confused, but quickly learned about it.  I have to admit it was funny to see the look on his face when the librarian introduced the book.

His favorite part, of course, is the craft.  As soon as the librarian shuts the book, he stands up proudly and says “craft time.”  All of the adults get a kick out of it, which only motivates him to say it every time we go.  Jack loves to use crayons, markers, glue and his absolute favorite is the glitter glue.  We never leave there without having glitter covering every square inch of his hands, face and shirt (including mine).  Daddy always knows what day we went to the library because of all the glitter everywhere.  Let me tell you,  Daddy is so proud of Jack when he has glitter all over him…. especially pink.

I can’t help but love these fun little classes that introduce educational learning experiences to Jack – especially while we wait for an opening at a preschool.  If I dig hard enough and through word of mouth, it’s amazing what is out there.  The best part is that this class is FREE!  He meets new friends, reads books, is learning to be quiet in the library, does some artwork and leaves feeling so happy and can’t wait to show off his craft.  This leaves me feeling happy, too!

If you ask Andrew what he did at daycare, his first response is always an enthusiastic “TWO BOOKS!” He’ll very happily tell you that these were Elmo books or Sesame Street books, though I suspect they sneak a few other ones in between. It’s very rare that I can get him to leave the house in the morning without him lugging at least one (if not four) books out the door with him.

We’ve been reading to Andrew since he was born. It seemed a little silly at first, reading to someone who clearly had absolutely no idea what I was saying. But it quickly became routine. At night while we were desperately trying to get our cranky one month old to sleep, I’d read him “Good Night Moon” and sing him two songs before trying to put him down.

Some of my favorite pictures are of Hubby reading to Andrew when he was only a couple months old. They would sit on the couch and read “Harold and the Purple Crayon.” Andrew would try to eat the book. We’d try to keep from laughing.

Every day for the first five months that I was home with him, we’d sit on the floor (well, I’d sit and he’d lay on his play mat) and I would read him nursery rhymes. Somewhere along the line, the little guy really developed a love of books. The pictures. The words. The time we get to spend together.

We enjoy it too – even when we’re reading the same book to Andrew endlessly. We’re both avid readers, when we’re able to look at something other than briefs and case law… So it’s great that our son shares our love of stories. And I’m sure it’s helped with his vocabulary and is probably a better way to spend the night than being glued to the tv…

This week they had the Scholastic book sale at daycare. An entire display case of books was right in front of Andrew’s classroom. He raced for it each morning and happily grabbed stacks of books and bawled when I made him put them back. Wednesday night, I told him to go pick out a book.

He was so excited – like a kid in a candy store. He immediately grabbed a book with dogs on the front cover. Then he looked up at me with his huge eyes and said, “Please, mommy! Two books?” He left daycare with two new books and a huge smile. He spent the ride home flipping through the pages and pointing out all the pictures.

Thursday was the last day of the book fair. He ran around the school again trying to grab every book he could get his little hands on. Ones with horses. Fire trucks. And, of course, Sponge Bob. (I’m not sure where he learned about Sponge Bob, but he was very excited by that one…)

I told Andrew that if he wanted a book, he had to pick out one for all his friends in class. He had as much fun picking out the book to give away as he did finding ones for himself. After we had paid, he proudly marched back into his classroom and gave the book to his teacher.

As we walked out the door, with Andrew clutching his new purchases, he smiled up at me and said, “Two books!”