Library Time for Babies

Today I took my 6 month old son to a program my local library does called Wee Wonders.  It is specifically designed for babies 0-18 months.  I've wanted to take him for a long time, but as a full time working mom, I'm not usually around on a Monday morning to take him.  Well, boy am I glad I finally found the time to go.  We had so much fun!  The librarian who ran the program did a lovely job.  She started by having us sing a simple song as she went around an introduced a Lamb Chop puppet to all of the babies.  Then we sang some more songs with simple hand motions.  Sometimes I helped my son do the hand motions other times I just did them with my hands in front of him so he could see what I was doing.  After about 3 songs she read a story to the babies and then we sang a few more songs.  Just like before all of the songs had simple melodies and hand motions to go along with them.  For the last 10 minutes of the program she passed out bubbles and we could blow bubbles for our babies.  This was my son's first experience with bubbles and he was fascinated.  Unfortunately he doesn't yet move fast enough to reach the bubbles before they pop, but I think that's part of the mystery of bubbles for him.

If I was around on Monday mornings this would become a regular part of my baby's week.  It was fun for him to be around other babies and fun for me to watch him explore and interact with me and other babies.  Lucky for me, summer is just a few months away, and then we'll be able to make library time a regular part of our week.  In the mean time, at least I've got about five new songs (with hand motions) that the two of us can sing together.

Sitting Up On My Own

Whew!  It has been a busy week!  Parent teacher conferences always throw off my whole week even though they only take a two days.  I sure am glad the weekend is here, but I can't believe it's Sunday afternoon already.  How did that happen!?

Well, enough about my life and onto reading.  It seems my little baby is starting (already) to grow up and push away from his parents.  He has recently mastered the art of sitting and that seems to be all he wants to do, and that includes when it's story time.  Until recently my baby would sit in my lap and enjoy looking at books and listening to me or my husband as we read them, but (temporarily, I'm hoping!) that doesn't seem to be the case.  He still loves to look at books and listen to stories, but he wants to sit on the floor, not on mom or dad's lap.  I know I should be happy that he still loves to listen to stories, but there is a part of me, okay a large part of me, that's sad when I take out some books to read and I try to put him in my lap and he just squirms and wiggles until he's happily seated on the floor.  I'm sure this is just going to be one of many reading phases my son goes through, but for now I can't wait until he's happy to sit in my lap again.

Reading Junk Mail

The strangest things happened about a week ago.  While my son was sitting on the floor playing next to me, I was trying to multi-task and look through an advertisement for a grocery store.  As I casually glanced between my son and the flier in my hand I noticed that my son was paying closer attention to the advertisement than I was.  I thought maybe he was bored and I tried to give him a new toy to play with but he kept staring at the ad in my hands.  After puzzling over this for a moment a light in my head went off and I realized he probably liked all of the bright colors on the flier.  So, I picked him up, set him in my lap and the two of us "read" the grocery store ad together.  I didn't actually read the words on the ad, but I pointed out pictures and named foods.  I added a few other details like how we might use an ingredient in a recipe, or if it was something I didn't like to eat I'd tell him that I thought a particular food was yucky.  He loved it.  He babbled along with me and kept reaching his arms out to grab paper.  When I was all done I let him hold the flier in his hands.  If I thought he'd enjoyed "reading" the advertisement with me it was nothing compared with how much he enjoyed holding it in his hands and crinkling it in his tiny fists.  As a result of this accidental discovery we have been reading grocery fliers together for the past few days.  Finally a use for all of the junk mail that arrives at my house!  We, like you, get tons of advertisements, fliers, and catalogues at our house some of which we've requested but most of which we haven't.  Before I would casually glance through about 3% of what we got, while the other 97% wouldn't even make it through the door before it hit the trash can.  However, for the past few days I've sorted though our junk mail looking for good "reading" material that I think my son will enjoy.  Grocery store ads are my favorite because they include bright colorful pictures of foods.  This is especially fun for me since he's just starting to eat solids so when we look at the pictures of produce I talk to him about what they taste like and how much he's going to enjoy eating apples, pears, sweet potatoes, or whatever picture we are looking at.  I point out the fruits he's tasted and the one's he'll taste soon.

Who'd have thought, I finally found a use for all of those fliers and junk mail after all!

Favorite Book 6 months

It's hard for me to believe, but my son is 6 months old as of this week.  I'm not sure where the time has gone.  He's changing and developing in so many ways and that goes for his reading interests as well.  At this age he definitely shows a preference for books with bright, bold colorful illustrations.  He won't sit on my lap indefinitely anymore, so shorter books works best.  He's also at a stage where he grabs for books and can turn pages (not always the right way but he can turn them).  So, board books are the perfect fit.  He really enjoys any book that has bright, bold illustrations with limited text per page.  I'll list a few of the books that my husband and I particularly enjoy reading to him, but he's not showing a great preference for any specific title at this point.

Just for fun, my husband does make a point of reading something with more print fewer illustrations to him before he goes to bed.  This week he's been reading from our collection of Berenstain Bears stories.

Some of our favorite board books to read to our son:

1. Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss
2. Moo Ba La La La by Sandra Boynton
3. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
4. Sheep On A Ship by Nancy E. Shaw

We Love Sandra Boynton Board Books

In this house we are HUGE fans of Sandra Boynton.  I was lucky enough to get an introduction to Sandra Boynton about seven years ago when my friends first started having kids.  So, I knew to keep an eye out for her books while my husband and I were expecting.  I scoured garage sales, thrift stores, library sales, and used book stores swooping up any Sandra Boynton books I could find.  (For as popular as Sandra Boynton board books are, good quality used board books are surprisingly hard to come by.)

For those who are just getting their first introduction to Sandra Boynton through this blog, she's a must get to know author if you have children between the ages of 0 and 3.  She's best known for her board books.  She is both the author and illustrator of her books and they all have a distinctive Boynton look.  What we love about her books in this house are her silly rhymes that grab and hold kids attention.  When they are very young, babies enjoy the rhyming cadence of the words even if they don't hold any meaning for them, but as the kids get older they'll enjoy the silliness of the stories.  Some of her books are very repetitive and so they make wonderful books for early readers because they are predictable and kids can "read" repeated words or phrases.  This list below represents the books that we've managed to get our hands on, but this is by no means an exhaustive list of her books.  Several of her books also incorporate music, which is always a huge hit with children.

1. Fifteen Animals
2. Belly Button Book
3. The Going to Bed Book
4. Barnyard Dance
5. Oh My Oh My Dinosaurs
6. Pajama Time
7. Moo Ba La La La
8. The Going to Bed Book

Of course we have our favorites from the list above.  My husband and I both love the Belly Button Book, and The Going to Bed Book is another popular title in our house.  I'm sure once you read a few Sandra Boynton books you'll fall in love with her the way we have and you'll discover your own favorites.

Book that Help Me Raise My Baby

This year has been full of changes for me because I had my first baby!  To help me prepare for, and cope with, all of the changes to my body and my life I did what every book lover does...I read (and read, and read, and read)!

Here are the books that have so far seemed to be the most helpful to me.  I know books about parenting can be filled with controversy and I'm sure there are folks out there that will read this list and instantly judge me as a bad mother, while others will look at this list and instantly feel as if I'm the same kind of parent as them.  Ultimately the information I learned from all of the many books I read this year got blended into my own unique style of parenting that fits who I am the best.  This list is not all of the books that I read, but it does include those books that I find myself frequently referring back to.  I ended up buying all of the books listed below so I'd have them on-hand when I needed to reference them, but I got them all used at my local used book store and garage sales.  Hopefully if you're expecting right now you'll have time to hunt at your local used book stores, thrift stores, and garage sales to avoid paying full price.  Of course, I'd also recommend you check each title out of the library first so you know if it's worth buying a copy for yourself. 

1. What to Expect When You're Expecting (Murkoff and Mazel)- Is there a pregnant woman who hasn't read this book?  It was a great and comforting guide to me while I was pregnant.
2. What to Expect The First Year (Hathaway)- Since I loved What to Expect When Expecting, I thought I'd pick this up when I came across it at a garage sale.  It's been a helpful resource.
3. Read Aloud Handbook (Trelease) A must read for every parent regardless of how old their kids are!  This book will inspire you to read to your child and to help every child you know grow up in a print rich home.  I know I've blogged about this book many times already, but I just can't say enough good things about this book. 
4. On Becoming Baby Wise (Ezzo and Bucknam)- Okay, I know this is where some of you are going to groan, and begin to worry about the welfare of my child.  While my husband and I haven't followed this book to the letter, we have really found this book and the general guidelines it lays out helpful.  We've even picked up Babywise II.  I'd recommend that every parent read this book.  Even if you finish it and realize it isn't for you at least you've read it and made up your own mind.  And even if you find just one tip that works for your family, it seems worth it to me.
5. The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer (Hogg)- I really liked this book.  The author's E.A.S.Y. method is very calming and appealing and seemed to work very well for my son. 
6. The Wonder Weeks (Van De Rijt) - I fell in love with this book and hunted for months to get my hands on a used copy.  This book is certainly worth owning because it's not the kind of book you read once and move on from.  You'll want this book around each time your baby experiences a "wonder week".  The book takes you through your baby's 10 great fussy periods and explains why your baby is likely fussy at time and what changes your baby is going through.
7. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Weissbluth)- If you're having trouble with sleep habits in your baby this is the book for you.  It really is a very comprehensive guide to sleep.  A lot of the information seems obvious, but some of the other information was really helpful and enlightening to me as a new mom.
8. Happiest Baby On the Block (Karp) - I really liked the information in this book, but you really could probably just check this book out from the library.  I only bought it because I found it for $1 after I checked it out from the library and knew it had good information.
9. Parenting with Love and Logic (Cline and Fay) - This will be a book that I'll probably reread when my son is older.  The information in this book isn't geared toward the first year of a baby's life, but it's still good information and when the time comes I hope I parent like this.

Favorite Books 5 months

On Christmas Eve our son turned 5 months old.  We ran into some friends of ours at the Christmas Eve service who had their 8 week old with them and my husband and I couldn't believe how big, and old, our son looked at 5 months compared to their 8 week old.  It's amazing how fast they change.  And, this includes our son's reading tastes.  At 4 months he was still really into high contrast books, but his interest seems to be fading as his interest in other types of books grows.  He's now able to reach and grab onto pages which means that to save our other books we mostly read board books and let him play with bath books.  He seems to sit better for books that rhyme right now and he also listens best when he's got something he can chew on while he's read to. 

1) Our family is loving Sandra Boyton books right now.  We've got about 5 of her board books and we just love them.  They mostly rhyme, have silly words, and cheerful illustrations.  She's an author who is worth getting to know.

2) Dr. Seuss ABC book is also growing in popularity with him.  I think he likes this one so much because it rhymes.

3) Bath Books are really a big thing for him.  He can grab and crinkle the pages, put them in his mouth, hold onto the one that has a handle, and just play with them.  It's so much fun watching him explore these books.  My favorite is watching him turn the pages in his bath books.  It really does make it look like he's "reading".  We keep the one with the handle in the play room and the other two we save for bath time.  We have the set pictured above called Sassy 3 Pack Newborn Developmental Book Set.

Favorite Books at 4 months

Over the Thanksgiving holiday our son turned 4 months.  So I thought I'd take a moment to write about his current favorite books.

1. High Contrast Books- I've written about these before.  These books are my son's favorite books and have been for about 2 months.  The high contrast books we have feature simple, very large black and white pictures.  Each page has one or two words so we mostly fill in the story as he stares at the pictures.  We picked up our set at our local used book store and they have proved to be worth every penny.  No other books at this stage come close to holding his attention the way these books do.
(Shop: Sock and Shoe, Fish and Canoe, Me and You, Cluck and Moo)

2. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton- We have several Sandra Boynton books, but my son seems to prefer this one right now.  This book features a simple rhyming story about some barnyard animals square dancing.  It is simple, cute, and silly.  It has Boynton's trademark illustrations.  When we read this to him we try to get him physically involved with the story.  For example, when the text says "stomp your feet" we'll take his feet and tap them on the floor.  So he may just enjoy this one since we make it so interactive for him.

I know the list seems short, but 4 month old babies don't have a huge attention span for reading at this point.  I can't wait to see how his reading interests grow and change as he develops.

Chewable Baby Books

My husband and I have recently introduced chewable baby books, or what in our house we call bath books.  We think of bath books as short books (3-5 pages), made of soft foam and covered in plastic.  They can get wet and stand up to a drooling baby or bath time. (Thus the nickname bath books.)  We have a set that has a handle for him to grab onto, but not all of our bath books have handles.  At 4 months our son is just starting to want to put things into his mouth and also just beginning to become a drooler.  In an effort to protect some of his board books, while still letting him explore books we decided to break out our small collection of bath books. 

But, the thing is we're not using them at bath time...we're using them during play time.  From what my friends with slightly older children have said his interest in bath books will really pick up around 6 months.  For now he likes to grab onto the book with the handle and shake it around.  Sometimes he'll grab and squeeze one of the pages.  At this stage they really only hold his attention for about 5 minutes tops.  He does like to look at the bright colors of the illustrations though.  We have the set pictured above from Sassy and so far we like it.  The cube holds no interest for him at this stage, but I'm sure in a few months he will enjoy that more.  Right now it's just too big for his hands.  I'm excited to watch him play with these books now and I can't wait to see him interact with these books as his skills continue to grow and develop.

Sheep In a Jeep

I made the greatest discovery by accident this week.  (Well, technically it was my boss who made the fantastic discovery.)  I have long loved the book Sheep In a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw.  For years it was my go-to book that I gave to new and expecting mothers.  This week my boss, knowing how much I loved the book Sheep In a Jeep, bought me a surprise gift, Sheep On a Ship!  Sheep On a Ship is just as great as Sheep In a Jeep!  (I may even like it just a bit more than Sheep In a Jeep!)  But the real gift was learning that Nancy Shaw has a whole series of Sheep books.  (A flock of sheep books if you will...ha ha ha.)  I had no idea!  I thought Sheep In a Jeep was just a one book thing.  But, I could not have been more wrong!  There is a bunch of Sheep books, including Sheep Take a Hike, which fits so perfectly with our nursery theme.  I can't wait to check some of the other titles out from the library and add a few of them to the Christmas list. 

The Sheep books all feature simply rhyming text and tell of an ill fated adventure that a flock of sheep take on.  The books are charmingly illustrated by Margot Apple.  They are funny and clever and I am just so excited that there is more than one!  I can't wait to read them all to my son!

Currently Published Sheep Books by Nancy E. Shaw

• Sheep In a Jeep
• Sheep On a Ship
• Sheep In a Shop
• Sheep Out to Eat
• Sheep Take a Hike
• Sheep Trick or Treat
• Sheep Blast Off

Books for a Camping Themed Nursery

When it came time to create a theme for our son's nursery we wanted to create something that was not only reflective of who the two of us were as a family, but who we hoped the three of us would be as a family.  My husband and I both love nature, and specifically we love camping.  So we decided to piece together a camping themed nursery.  (Easier said than done by the way!  There is lots of forest themed pieces for a nursery, but not many camping specific pieces.)

We, of course, wanted to enhance our theme by including a few good camping picture books.  Not only do they make a great display, but they are so much fun to read.  With each reading my husband and I hope we are building an interest in our son that will continue to grow into many happy camping memories with his family.  Here's the list of books that we included in our nursery to go along with our camping theme.

A Camping Spree With Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen
S is for S'mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James
Toasting Marshmallows by Kristine O'Connell George
When We Go Camping by Margiet Ruurs
Forest Bright, Forest Night by Jennifer Ward (Great science content!)
Over In the Forest: Come and Take a Peek by Marianne Berkes (Beautiful cut paper illustrations)
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Fire Flies by Julie Brinckloe
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant- This was added mostly because I love Love LOVE Cynthia Rylant.  It's not about camping exactly, but it is about the quite nights in the country.

I hope to add to the collection as he grows.  I'm always open to recommendations!

Bedtime Story

My husband and I have been struggling with when we should begin to incorporate a story into our son's bedtime routine.  We, of course, want him to have a rich tradition of a bedtime story, but at his young age (almost 4 months old) it seems a bit early.  We read aloud to him at other times, but just not usually right before he goes to bed for the night.  In his book, The Read Aloud Handbook, author Jim Trelease encourages reading aloud to children from day one.  While another book, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg, encourages reading aloud to children, but discourages a bedtime story until your baby is 6 months old.  At that age she feels babies are better able to focus and sit up.  Right now we seem to be leaning toward incorporating reading into his daytime routine and not yet into his bedtime routine.  I'm not sure exactly when we'll change this, maybe at 6 months, maybe another time, but I can't wait until it can be part of my son's bedtime routine.

High Contrast Books

The first books we read to our son when he came home were high contrast books.  At 3.5 months age they are his favorite books.  We were lucky enough to stumble upon three high contrast books at our local used bookstore.  For just $1 a piece we purchased  Fish and Canoe, Me and You, and Sock and Shoe.  All three books are published by Flying Frog and written by Frida Bing.  (There is a fourth book, Cluck and Moo, but sadly we couldn't find it at the used bookstore.)  All four of these books are sturdy board books.  These were the first books that our son showed any interest in. 

The idea behind high contrast books has more to do with the development of a baby's eyes than his reading abilities.  Babies are not born with 20/20 vision, it takes time to develop.  So, at first what they are most drawn to look at are bright colors, and high contrast items.  They make high contrast flash cards, but why use flash cards when you could read a book!  His interest in these books really started to pick up around 2 months of age.  As an adult you won't be all that impressed with the books, but just watch your baby stare at the pictures and you'll soon fall in love with them yourself!  The books feature simple illustrations in black and white with one or two words of text per page.  It is one of my favorite activities to put my son in my lap and read to him and talk about the pictures while he looks in wonder at the images in front of him.  In addition to exercising his developing eye sight, he is learning the joy of sitting in a parent's lap and being read to.  If you haven't given high contrast books a chance they are worth checking out for the truly young readers in your house.

The Book Every Parent (and Teacher) Should Own

If there's one book that I love more than any other is has to be the Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  (Seriously, run, don't walk, to your nearest library or book store to get a copy!)  If you are a person (parent, teacher, aunt, uncle, grandparent, loving neighbor, or anyone else born on planet Earth) who is passionate about reading with your family then this book is a must have for you.  I've owned this book for years and loved it for years.  It has helped me countless times as a teacher.  But, now I get the joy of rediscovering it as a parent!  As a teacher I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book and wish I could afford to buy copies for all of my student's parents every year. 

There's almost too many good things to say about this book, but I'll list my top 5 reasons this book is so great.
1.  The treasury of read alouds in the back.  If you've ever wondered what to read to your child, this will solve your problem today and for years to come.  If this book was only a lists of books it would still be worth buying, but it is so much more!
2.  The book makes the often hard to understand topic of reading instruction seem easy to understand.
3.  Inspiring writing about the impact that reading to a child can have on all aspect of his/her life.  (And, honest writing about the damage that can occur when a child isn't read to.)
4.  Simple tips to help you make the most of your read aloud time with your family.
5.  Tips on how to create a reader friendly home.

The only negative I can say (and it is seriously the only one) is that the latest edition was printed in 2006.  I'd love to see him update this and release a newer edition.  Which, of course, I'd be first in line to buy!