Story Time

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One thing that I try to do every day with both babies is read books. This is a little more logical with Erik, who can understand what is being read and even point to things in the pictures, but it is just as important for Paisley to get story time too.

Reading does SO MANY things for little ones! By the time a child is one year of age, they are familiar with all the basic sounds (or phonemes) that make up the building blocks of the language spoken in their home. They understand a large amount of what is said around them, even though they can't say the words themselves. How do they learn all this? They listen to mom and dad and everyone else around them and soak it all up like little sponges. Reading is a prime opportunity for an infant to be introduced to all this stuff. Don't believe me? Check out these great articles about reading with infants at kidshealth.org and babycenter.com.

Some of the benefits of reading with infants are that you get to hold and cuddle your baby while they listen to the sound of your voice (GREAT bonding time!), they assimilate language (picking up phonemes, learning vocabulary, picking up on inflections, etc...), they strengthen their eyes as they look around the page, they learn about the world around them through pictures stories and rhymes, and  they get to learn to hold and handle a book as you help them feel and turn the pages. 

Babies this age will not yet understand what you are reading, so a captivating plot is the least of your worries right now. Here are some of the books we like and why we like them.

-Make sure the book you are reading has bright interesting pictures that are very simple. Too much stuff on one page is just an overload of stimulus and the baby can't process any of it. Keep the backgrounds simple with crisp clear pictures.

Llama Llama Zippity-Zoom

-While an infant may not be able to understand the words, they do appreciate rhyming and repetition. Look for things that have a sing song type rhythm and lots of rhyming.

Moo, Baa, La La La

-Other things to look for are books with added features like sounds or textures. Erik loves to pet the different animals in this book, and we're helping Paisley to learn how much fun it is too.

Touch and Feel Pets

Maybe one of the most important things to remember is that when baby says she's done, that's it you're done! Don't push reading now unless you want her to hate it later. Remember, she's not following the story line, so if she misses the last page, she'll never care.

*Diedre Mower is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.