The Wonderful World of Reading

I read somewhere that "baby's probably not ready for listening to stories yet," but I've been reading to Isaac since he was in my womb. At work, we had someone come in and talk to us about brain-based research. She told us that everything we see today (in our students) is a product of what happened between 0 to 5 years of age. Everything from baby's health to whether or not dad is in the home to how much interaction he gets on a daily basis is important.

Literacy definitely begins in the home, so I make a point to read to Isaac every day. We've got quite a collection of books so far. We were in three book clubs at one point - the Beginning Readers program, Disney Readers program (which we later dropped, but will pick up again later), and My First Steps program. Anytime I'm in the mall, I usually stop by Barnes and Noble and pick up a few books too. We read Dr. Seuss books, interactive board books, and the Bible. Anytime we read a story, Isaac gets excited as he's waiting for me to start the book. He enjoys looking at all of the pictures and helping me turn the pages.

I have The Beginners Bible, which was given to me by my grandmother when I was a kid. Somehow I managed to keep it all these years, so now I've passed it on to Isaac. This morning, I was carrying Isaac and said, "Isaac, let's read a Bible story."

I walked over to his bookcase, and he said, "Bible." My mom asks me how he can say that word, since it has two syllables. I don't know, but it was very distinct.

The publisher wrote on the book that it's for kids ages two to six, but I still read it to him anyway. We've already read through it one time, and we're close to finishing it for a second time now. When we do finish, then we'll start it over again. I don't want to wait until he's two to start reading the Bible to him. By the time he's two, I want the words to be ingrained in him.

I know that in order for Isaac to pick up the language, he has to hear it often. So I make a point to read to him, as well as talk to him about all the things we're doing around the house. Last week Wes and I were talking, and Wes said, "Yea," agreeing with something I'd said. Then I heard Isaac parrot Wes and say, "Yea," just like he was part of the conversation. When we're sitting at the dinner table, sometimes we'll let Isaac play in his Exersaucer, and other times we'll let him sit at the table with us in the high chair. He listens intently, and you can tell that he really wants to be a part of what's going on. I can't wait until we're able to have a conversation around the dinner table with the whole family. I look forward to asking Isaac how his day went at school and talking to him about things that matter.