When you're going to be a new parent, one of the things that's hammered into you is that you should read to your child. "It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's proper English," an older nurse who was substitute teaching our class for parents-to-be weirdly said to a room in which about half of those present didn't have English as their first language, thus becoming an Erin and Jeff inside joke.
I, of course, wholeheartedly support reading to children. In the early months of W's life, we read to her, but it was hard to tell whether she was getting anything out of it. And at that stage, does it really matter whether you're reading or just talking to them in general?
Then, after becoming really mobile, she entered a stage where she just didn't seem to have the patience to let a book be read to her. So we kind of stopped reading to her for the most part, for a while. I wasn't worried. I figured it was a stage. And we could see she was still being read to at daycare (we wondered how she acted there; was she able to sit still for a book, just not for her parents?).
Still, a small part of me felt like maybe I was doing something wrong by hardly ever reading to her during that time. A small part, to be sure. I wasn't really worried. But it nagged at me occasionally.
In the last month or two, we were pleased when we discovered that the phase of W being unable to sit still while we read her a book had ended. We started reading to her more, and she seemed to enjoy it. A great development!
Then, a couple weeks ago, all of the sudden, W became obsessed with books. One day she just started picking up books a lot and handing them to us and saying, "Read. Book. Read. Book."
It's continued every day since and it's just been a joy to experience.
Well, sometimes it gets to be a little much because she just does not want to stop reading books. It will be time to go to daycare, and, "More. More. Book. Book." It will be time to go to bed, and, "More. More. Book. Book." But even this is just so adorable and heartwarming.
I think the most wonderful part is not just seeing her newfound love of books, but also seeing the ways she interacts with the books and how rapidly she retains new information. I find it so fun to just think about all the connections that are forming in her brain. It's often said that a toddler's brain is like a sponge for new information, and it's so true, and it's so cool to witness in person with your own child.
Neuroplasticity, man. It's just amazing.
With most of the books that we read a lot (and there are some books that we've already really read a lot) there are one or two or even a bunch of places in the book where W will say or do something in response to the words and pictures, and she'll consistently do it every time we read the book, and it's so cute and funny and delightful and fascinating all at once.
Here are some of my favorite examples!
An early contender for W's favorite book is Cat's First Baby by Natalie Nelson. W likes to point at the two main characters on various pages of the book and say "cat" and "baby."
She likes to say, "Down!" (something she learned to say when one of our cats is on the table or counter) after we say, "You don't look like a cat from up here" on this page:
On this page, she likes to say, "Wa-wa" (water, something she frequently says, although it could mean either that she sees water or that she wants a drink of water; also, spilling glasses of water is something she likes to do herself, but the idea of either a cat or a baby apologizing is pretty funny):
And on this page, she likes to exclaim, "Zoooooooom" along with her parents:
Another favorite book is Hug by Jez Alborough, a book with minimal text that illustrates the story of a young monkey named Bobo looking for his mother. When she sees Bobo riding an elephant, W says, "Wheeeeeeee!"
This is something she often says when on bike rides with me; perhaps she imagines riding an elephant would be similarly fun.
In The Feelings Book by Todd Parr, on this page, W gets a big smile on her face and starts bobbing her head:
It's so cute!
In Thank You, Tree, illustrated by Fiona Lee, upon seeing this page, Willow points to the pancakes and says, "Mmmmm":
Goodnight Moon was a favorite book for my parents to read to me (an experience shared by many, no doubt). When she sees the "quiet old lady who was whispering hush," W puts a finger in front of her face and goes, "Shh, shh, shh."
And the other day she picked up the book and started saying, "Hush! Hush! Hush!" (not opening the book to that page, just remembering something that was in the book she was holding). I told my parents about this and they loved it.
There are many more examples, but that's a good sampling. I hope that for those reading this who have raised children in the past, this brings back memories of similar experiences. Books are wonderful things, and reading them has done so much to enrich my life. It's so exciting to witness the start of that process in my and Erin's child!
