Tuesday, April 27, 2010
For the Love of Books
I started reading to Little One when she was still a tiny little sprout growing inside me.
Since she was born at 28 weeks (3 months premature!), we spent the first 70 days of her life in the hospital. While she was in her isolette (incubator), I read to her. When she "graduated" to a "big girl crib" and was moved to the Level II nursery, I read to her. I have to say that those long days spent in the NICU, I did a lot of singing and reading to Little One.
She's now 17 months old and I still read to her every day. Okay, more like several times a day...only because she is constantly bringing books to me so I can read them to her.
I often wonder if those early days of being read to explain why Little One just loves books now. She loves her books more than she loves her toys. She just sits on my lap and listens, points and talks to the pictures on the pages, sings, laughs, turns the pages...and then wants more! She can sit through three or four books and still want to be read to!
The gift of reading is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children. What better way to cultivate creativity and imagination than to share the wonderful world of books with our kids?
One of Little One's absolute favourite books is Rosemary Wells' Read to Your Bunny. Little One's Neonaologist gave her a copy at one of her Neonatal Follow-Ups as part of the www.caringforkids.cps.ca Reading with Young Children's "Prescription to Read".
Little One never seems to get tired of that book. The pictures and rhyming story seem to appeal to her. It's one of the books I have to take with us in my "magic bag of tricks" whenever we go anywhere. Margaret Wise Brown's Good Night Moon, Sandra Boynton's Barnyard Dance, and a few other books are always in that bag too (along with lots of snacks and a few non-noisy toys).
Here's some great news for you guys! We're giving one lucky reader their very own copy of Rosemary Wells' Read to Your Bunny.
To enter the contest, all you have to do is:
1. Leave me a comment and tell me what your child's favourite children's book is.
2. Additional entries can be obtained by mentioning this contest in a post on your blog. Please link back to me and let me know that you've mentioned the contest.
3. You can also receive additional entries for Tweeting and Facebooking the contest. Again, please let me know if you've done this.
4. Yet one more entry can be earned by following this blog with Google Friend Connect. That's a total of up to FIVE entries per person. That's five chances to win!
The contest closes on Monday (May 3, 2010). The winner will be announced here on May 4th.
Little One absolutely loves her copy of Read to Your Bunny! I hope your child will too.
**Don't forget to enter our Iams ProActive Health contest too! The contest closes on May 14th!**
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About the Blog Author
City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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19 comments:
Lily loves Moo, Baa, La la la.
I follow
i dont have twitter or a blog. but my kids all love the very hungry caterpillar.
my oldest loves 'Big Tractor' and my youngest loves 'The Night Before Christmas'
My kids loved Tick a Tick a Boom Boom! It was such a funny little book, handy for learning letters. Funny thing is of all the books they had their fav was the one that came out a cereal box!!!! I can't even remember who worte it, only that it was french! Wow, thinking about it now and I can still remeber some of the lines..... A la dit a B.... P la patte casse!
Stephanie
I don't have kids yet but seems like every one of my friends is popping out kidlets these days. This would be a great gift to add in a baby shower basket, along with one of your diaper cakes! HINT HINT!
HM, Jackie, Steph, and T:
I've entered you all in the draw :)
HM:
Little One loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar too!
Jackie:
Awww! My HUSBAND loves Big Tractor! He gets Little One all these farm and tractor books. He even got her a John Deere outfit when she was tiny! It was a onesie with a matching hat and bib! LOL!
The Night Before Christmas is a classic! Love it! Your boys have great taste in books!
Steph:
I need to get Little One more French books. I've a few, but would like to build her collection. Know of any other good ones? "P la patte casse!" HA! Too cute!
T:
Haha! You're too funny! You want me to make a diaper cake for you? Which baby shower is this for...and I guess you'd have to come to the island to pick up the diaper cake!!! When are you coming? LOL!
Hey C! Great giveaway! My kids have SO many books - my little girl is starting to read - Her favorite book is disneys the little mermaid, a book that was mine as a child that I gave to her. My son enjoys reading these readers digest kids books about animals my mom gave him for Christmas! I follow you on Twitter (@idream1) I'm tweeting & mentioning this on my fb fanpage :-)
I'm a big believer in reading to kids. When my daughter was in Kindergarten, they had a reading program that gave points and prizes for the most books read. At the end of the year, she won the grand prize because we had read over 500 books. She was reading on her own before Kindergarten finished, she skipped 2nd grade and now at 19 is finishing her sophomore year in college (on scholarships) with a 3.9 GPA. I attribute this in great part to the fact that reading was an essential part of her formative years. You are definitely doing it right with your daughter. And now - favorite book...hmmm..there are so many but I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch was always a favorite. My sister has young kids and this would be a perfect gift for them.
Google Friend follower
Alyssa:
Awesome that your daughter's favourite book was a book that was yours when you were a child! :) Oh, and your son reading Readers' Digest kids books is fantastic! Love it!
You've scored a couple of entries for tweeting, following, commenting and facebooking! ;)
Terri:
Awww! Robert Munsch's "Love You Forever" is one of MY favourite books!!!
That is wonderful about your daughter! You're so right about reading and the formative years! What a smart cookie you have! :)
You've been entered in the draw three times (for tweeting, following, and commenting).
My 13 month old son loves all of Sandra Boyton's books but his fav is "The Going to Bed Book" a must read before bedtime.
My children love "Good Night Moon" and "No David" I read "Good Night Moon" so many times I realized that it takes 45 min to say good night in that book if you follow the clock on the wall in each page from beggining to end! sad but true!
I am so envious. I personally LOVE books & reading & I want so badly to pass that on to my son. I started reading to him shortly after he was born--I packed good night moon in my hospital bag & read it to him lots of times while we were still at the hospital. I've continued to read to him in both English & Spanish since that time. Of course when he wasn't mobile he had to lay there & listen, but as soon as he became mobile he would grab the book from me & close it. And he still does it even now. Now I keep all his board books (that he can't really tear up cuz he's not gentle at all) where he has access to them & he loves to grab them & flip through them & look at them, but he does not like me to look at his books or to read out loud out of his books. It's really odd & it makes me so sad.
I forgot to add that if I hold tightly to the book & refuse to let him grab it & close it then he'll sit himself down in the middle of it to block my view. It's definitely very deliberate.
KO:
Aren't Sandra Boynton books great?! My friend, SuperAmazingMommy introduced me to them. She and her boys gave Little One two S.B. books for her baptism and for her birthday, she got "Barnyard Dance" from another friend of ours. It's one of her faves!
I love that your son's fave book is "The Going to Bed Book"!
Crystal:
Amazing that you know that! Ha! :) Love it!
Frau:
That little Joseph of yours is toooooo adorable for words!! xoxo