Reading Is Fun!

Noni really likes books.  Really.  (Her father and I can rarely do any reading for ourselves when she's awake and hanging out on us, because she makes it her mission to take whatever we're reading.)  Yes, at this point she's more interested in putting them in her mouth, but her face really lights up when I get one out to read to her. We're having a lot of fun reading and looking at pictures, and it's always exciting for me to get animated at times and see her laugh out loud in delight.

Last month we finally attended Story Time at the local library, something I'd been meaning to take her too but the timing was always off.  Typically it's held Mondays at 10:30 a.m.  Well, it never fails that around that time everyday she's ready to take a nap.  So trying to get out of the house and get to the library for the event just had not worked out--even though the library is literally a straight shot and just a few blocks from the house.  In January they finally held one on a Saturday that we were able to make it to.

That day the book A Butterfly Tale was read, which is about three caterpillars in Hawaii that transform into butterflies.   After listening to the book be read, the children participated in a butterfly craft project where they made butterflies from various materials.  She was able to complete the project with a little help from me.  ;-)

Although we did make it to the event, it was still cutting into her nap time so she was overly sleepy at this point. 

Thanks mostly the the Friends of the Library program (which sells some books for a dollar or less), she's had a nice little library since before she was even born.  A few of my favorites to read to her are pictured below.

I'm also a fan of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, so Noni has a copy of the book purchased for maybe a dollar at the library, she's got a board book version, which is great for eager babies who are prone to tear the pages in books, and she's also got a "soft book" version, which she can hold and chew on as she pleases.   Inside it teaches counting from one to five.

During library visits we check out all sorts of books, including ones written in Hawaiian. Not only would I like to expose her to the language, but I'm learning also.  These kiddie books are great for learning adults, too!

This one doesn't doesn't necessarily have Hawaiian words, but it teaches the alphabet.

One thing that I think is important is monitoring books that I share with Noni to ensure that no messages are being disseminated--subliminally or otherwise--that I don't want to expose her to.  It's amazing what people will put in children's books!  I always scan any books I get for her, and many times I'll read an entire book before purchasing or checking it out.  It hardly takes any time to read these little books.  

Noni is still very young, but it's important (for me) to get into these habits early when it comes to her experience with books so that once she is old enough to really know what's going on with them, we'll already be in the flow.  I look forward to reading with her in the months and years to come and always encourage this activity with youngsters!