The Joy of Reading!

From the time my daughter was in my womb, I dreamt of time spent together reading books. I yearned for it. I just couldn't wait to snuggle together in bed, and read. I had it all planned out. I had started my collection of books long before I even got pregnant. I love love love children's books. I was thrilled to receive so many great books as baby shower gifts, and I continued to search down good deals. (By the way, Goodwill and stores like that ROCK for books!)A few nights a week, I'd lay in bed and read, "Guess How Much I Love You" to my big old belly. It made me smile.

When Sugar Bear was only a few months old I started reading to her. Sadly, she didn't take to it very quickly, as some babies do. She only wanted to turn the pages, and hardly even look at the pictures. Some infants love to lay there and listen to the rhythmic words. Not my Sugar. There was absolutely NO WAY she would allow me to read the words. When she finally started have more interest in the books near the age of one, she only enjoyed looking at the pictures, and identifying the objects. She loved real picture books. There was a big period in her little life that she devoured picture books. Every day, on the way to and from work, she would sit in her car seat and read. She obviously doesn't take after her carsick prone mama, because it would NOT be pretty if I tried to ride backwards and read. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. At this time, she continued to not let me read the words. She had none of it. If I even started to read the words she would turn the page. Every night before bed we would together flip through 3-5 of her books. The only book she'd allow me to even come close to reading was, "Goodnight Moon."

Then at about 25 months, she took an unexpected turn. She stopped having any interest in books at all. She didn't care to even look at her books anymore. She did not want to read them in the car, and she certainly did not want me to look at them with her before bed. I really was NOT prepared for this. I have no idea what happened, but it was almost overnight. Being the totally cool mom that I am, I stifled my FREAK OUT fear and just let her take the lead. Every night after we got her jammies on I would say, "Honey, pick out your books for mama to read." and she would politely say, "No hanks, mama! Just Na Na's!" (Na Na's=nursing, in case you were wondering) So, I would simply say, "Okay Honey!", and we would skip the books. I have to admit it was hard to accept her craziness decision, as I sat there imagining her brain cells withering. I just hoped and trusted that if I kept offering she would someday come back to the stories we loved.

Sure enough about two months ago, she started pulling her books out during the day and looking at them again. She began to slowly ask me to sit with her and READ them. OH.MY.GOODNESS...she actually wanted me to READ them. Oh the JOY!!!! Seriously folks! I have been doing a little dance about this. It isn't a pretty dance, but it is the best I can do. I am loving it. Every night, after getting her jammies on I say, "Honey, please pick out 4 stories. Only 4 please!" and she proceeds to pick out at least 7, and I have to help her weed them down. It is a hard job, but somebody has to do it, if I ever want to see "So You Think You Can Dance" on time. tee hee....I'm only half kidding.

This is BLISS! She may have walked away from books for nearly 6 months, but when she came back to them, she had matured, and is hungry for the words now. I have found my stride. I have started using different voices for the characters. I love how it makes her giggle, and beg for me to read it "ONE MORE TIME!" We are just having too much fun. Just as I always knew we would. Life is GOOD!

Stayed tuned for the Week's Four For Friday. I will be featuring four of Sugar Bear's favorite books these days. You wouldn't want to miss out on that, now would you?