My Little Bookworms

Every night before Emily goes to sleep I read her at least one book. Sometimes Eric does it, but mostly it's me. I have been doing this since she was just weeks old. It was one of the things that I looked forward to most about being a parent - sharing books, and reading in general. Emily, in turn, loves books. She has a very full bookshelf to prove it. It's one of the only things that I never say no to in a store - another book to add to her collection.

I had this sweet little vision while I was pregnant - Emily, Paige and myself all snuggled in Emily's bed reading books and loving life. Well, it was not to be. I tried this my first night home from the hospital, and Paige wouldn't have any of it. She cried the whole time, and I ended up shouting the words from the book I was reading so that Emily could hear me. Not a very sweet and peaceful moment. We have retried that whole scenario a few times, with no success. I have tried with Paige in a good mood, pacifier in her mouth...nothing has worked. I was pretty upset about the whole thing because I am a book person, Emily is a book person, Eric is always reading something....how could this child not like the written word??? Was she switched at birth?

Fast forward to this week. I decided to try again, but this time with just Paige and me, in her room, in the rocking chair. Guess what?? It worked!!!! She loves books!!! I started out with Emily's first book - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I love this book for little ones - great, colorful pictures, repetitive. Paige loves it. She tries to grab it - although she hasn't quite found her hands yet, and she babbles the whole time I am reading. I have added Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and Good Night, Sweet Butterflies - both of which she LOVES. Okay - she's my kid.
I cannot stress enough, how important it is to read to your kids. I truly believe it is why Emily is so verbal. Some days, when she never seems to STOP talking, I wish we had skipped reading to her altogether - but those thoughts are fleeting. She is beginning to read books all by herself - which is great, but I will make sure, until she kicks me out, that I always make time every night to share a good book with her. I am thinking that later this month I will introduce her to chapter books - with little or no illustrations. I will probably start with Charlotte's Web. She saw the movie with Dakota Fanning, but I think she'll still appreciate the book. It was my first novel - and one of my favorites. It's funny - most readers that I know can name their first novel that they read - or heard read to them, and can name their favorite. As I said, my first novel I had read to me was Charlotte's Web. But, my favorite childhood novel, that I read was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. What was yours?


BTW - I would have a sweet little picture of me reading to Emily or Paige, but apparently my husband doesn't know how to work a camera. :) So, just a few pictures I took of Paige yesterday.

Look - she's annoyed with me and the camera already.....just smile and get through it honey - just ask your sister. We'll hound you until we get the right picture. Parental Paparazzi!!