Book Worms

I love to read. I got it from my mother. My mom read so much when I was little that my friends from elementary school have vivid memories of my mom in her tattered blue bath robe and my dad's thermal socks sitting in a rocking chair popping sunflower seeds to the rhythm of her rocking and reading paperback books with scraps of mail as book marks. Most of my memories of coming home from anywhere involve finding my parents either playing a game in my dad's office or my mom in that chair reading and eating those seeds.

So, I'm not entirely suprised that my kid has a natural fascination with books. After all, she sees me reading at least twice a day if not more. And, most of the time if she comes across a book while playing she has you read it to her. She will also bring me books to read if she catches me reading my book without her and wants some attention.

For now her book collection is limited because I don't want her to destroy her lovely little library when she's supposed to be napping. So I boxed up the big kid books and put them in the closet leaving out a collection of about 25 books that all have sturdy pages for her explore until I feel she's ready (or until she stops pulling everything off her shelves for me to pick it up...whichever comes first).

So far her favorites are the Hermie and Friends books, The Ladybug book from Great Aunt Winnie, I love you through and through and the Doggy book she got from ShuShu and PapaMark. The books she loves are already improving her vocabulary and she points things out on the pages as you read along. So we got some flash cards, which when the mood strikes her she is totally willing to play with.

This month in my effort to stay more green I'm also going to try and spend a little more time on books and a little less time with the TV on in the background. I know that Layla will like that. As it is, when she's home with Mommy I try to make sure there is a chunk of time every day without outside stimulation (radio/tv/interruptions from mom) so that she can develop good imagination skills.

I'll keep you posted if she comes up with any more favorites.