For the love of books

For the last few months, I've been concerned that Evie wasn't a lover of books.  Whenever Will or I would try to read them to her, she'd glance our way and head elsewhere.  If we were lucky, she'd come and listen to one or two pages and then move along.  I was envious hearing other parents talk about their child's favorite book.  How could Evie have a favorite book if she wouldn't even get beyond two pages of any we tried to read her?  Mothers guilt kicked in, with me thinking I must not have read enough to her as an infant; that must be why she wasn't keen on them.  I made it a goal to get her to sit through at least one book a day.

Stopping Will on his way to the gym

Well, I'm not sure if that goal paid off, or if Evie has just gotten smart enough to realize that if we're busy doing something, she can bring us any handful of her toys and we'll say "oh thank you" and hand it back, but if she brings us a book, we will stop whatever we're doing and read it to her.  This morning she toddled up to me with "Moo, Baa, La La La" in hand and pressed it against my leg.  Despite the fact that I was in the middle of doing dishes, I dropped to the floor and began reading.  "A cow says 'moo', a sheep says 'baa', three singing pigs say 'la la la'"

"LA LA LA!" She says along with me.  Then, closes the book.  That's her favorite page.  Sometimes she lets me get to the next page "No no, you say, that isn't right.  The pigs say 'oink' all day and night". She shakes her head along to the no's.  And then wanders off.

Reading on her own

Next she'll bring the much larger and more difficult to carry "Brown Bear" book.  It is a large board book with sliding doors showing a picture of a different animal on each page.  Now, this is a book she wants to read fully.  Mostly because she's obsessed with sliding the door on each page.  Will was almost out the door this morning when she ran to him with the book.  And, sure enough, with risk of missing his bus on the line, he plopped down and read her the whole book.

Smart kid.

This afternoon, I thought I'd see whether she'd let me read a book of my own for a minute while she read alone.  She actually did!  She sat on the floor flipping quietly through pages.  After maybe 4 minutes of this, she crawled into my lap with her book as if to say "okay, enough of that.  Now read this to me".  And, of course I did.  I'm not certain whether I'm spoiling her in this way, but I figure -- for now at least -- if it encourages her love of books, then I'm willing to oblige.