Figuring out the First Year

Each week or so we will be doing a thread called "Figuring out the First Year." In the topic description will be what the thread is about-something that has to do with the First Year. The idea behind this thread is to find out what worked or didnt work for you that might help another Mom and/or Dad of the First Year out. It is not a thread for debate or to point fingers at others. So please be as honest with your opinions as you can. Who knows, your advice might just be what someone is looking for.

Also, if there is something that you would like to know more about as a topic for discussion please feel free to add it to the suggestion box or PM one of the FY Mods.

This weeks topic is "reading to your babies." Do you do it, how do you do it, when do you do it, what books do you like, etc??

For me:

I started reading to them around 4 months or so once we had a pretty good routine down during the evening. I would take one into the nursery read a few quick books and then give him a bottle and get him down and DH would do the other with the same routine. Once they stopped falling asleep on the bottle at night, I started reading to them together in my lap and still do it to this day and then they go into their cribs.

I forgot to include that we read before naps too.

Who's next?

 

We read to our girls, and started pretty early - but not regularly. Now they are much more interested, and we try to read to them everyday. I have not been making it part of a routine yet, but I probably should! We have several soft books that are very colorful that they really like. We have a few 'lift the flap' type books, but they lose their interest in those pretty quickly for now...

 

I started reading to them very early on. I thought they would like to listen to my voice and hear me annunciate words. Now we read so many books periodically during the day. They bring them to me and we read and read so much so I know a lot of them by heart! Which is great distraction when we are out and about because they know the stories too so it gets their attention.

 

I started reading to my boys when they were 2 months old. By 5 months, it was a real routine - books before every nap. We layed down three in a row on my bed, with me in the middle, and I read to them. Sometimes they looked, sometimes they didn't. It helped to calm them down before sleep and it became an indicator to them that a nap/bedtime was coming. They are 22 months now and they adore books. We still read to them before naps/bed (in a chair in their room now) plus throughout the day. One of my sons learned the alphabet (upper case) at 18 months. Books are great for kids!

 

I've been reading to the boys since they were a month old. Sometimes they pay attention, sometimes they don't. They really like to look at the pages, and try to turn them too. We don't have a set routine, we just read throughout the day.

We read a lot of board books, touch and feel books, and Dr. Suess as I love reading Dr. Suess because it's fun reading

 

DH read to them at the 9th month in the womb . From there, I started reading to them at 5 months and then took them to storytime at 10 months. They sat in the SBS stroller for 15 min during the story/song time and I sang with them and moved their arms. Of course, the second 15 minutes was playtime for them. HTH .

 

We really just started a bedtime routine this past week with our 4 1/2 mo old b/g twins. So that is when we do the reading of books. We each feed one, and then one of us takes them both upstairs, sits in the rocker and reads them 2 books, and then down to bed. Come to think of it...we forgot the books last night. :huh: Whoops. It's still becoming habit. But I will occasionally pick up a book during the day, and read to them, as well. I sing them lots of songs in the day though, too.

 

We've read to them since birth. They still don't usually sit still long enough for a whole book but I just keep reading. Right now we do it before the morning nap, depending on how tired they look, I will do one or two books. Our favorite book of the moment is the "Mixed Up Alphabet". They also enjoy Curious George books, Goodnight Moon, and Let's Eat by Cookie Monster.

I'm trying to get better about reading to them another book during the day though, some days I remember and others I forget.

 

I started reading to the girls as soon as they came home from the hospital. I did it because they liked the sound of my voice and just didn't have that much to say

In the beginning, I'd prop them up in front of me and read. When they were about 4-5 months old they started looking at board books and cloth books. Lots of board books were destroyed because they liked to eat them more than look, but by 7ish months they would crawl over to their books and look at them. We'd read them together throughout the day until about a year when we built it into bedtime. Since then our routine to read a couple of books together on the couch after bath.

We have several book cases in our den and the girls have 3 shelves all to themselves. I love that they love books!!!

 

I do my best to read to them but it usually turns out bad with them trying to get the book and then fighting over who is going to get it LOL Think I have to try a new approach, maybe putting them in their high chairs? They have tons and tons of books. Their favorites to look at all have pictures of babies. They love looking at babies.

Dianna

 

Someone here gave me the best suggestion...laying down between them. I've been reading to them all along, but in the beginning I was putting them in bouncies and trying to read so they could see the books. Then I read someone's post about laying on the floor/bed between the babies and ever since we've been reading like crazy! They love it so we read books at different times all day! It's funny...the other day DS was really into the book I was reading, but DD kept rolling away (we were all lying on my big floor mats) so I just kept reading for DS. I turned my head to see what DD was up to and she had rolled back and was nose to nose to me, trying to see the book again. I guess the plot must have thickened LOL.

DH reads to them every night before their last nursing...anything from the Sandra Boynton board books (4-5 at a time!) to Bad Dog Marley to the newest Pottery Barn Kids catalogue. He can wiggle them both into his arms in the recliner and still turn the pages. I prefer the laying down technique...MUCH easier!

 

When I was about 6 months pregnant my husband would read to them when they were in the womb. He didn't do it every night, but did it about once or twice a week. From the time they were born we read them stories, but the night after Thanksgiving started a routine. We put up our Christmas tree, and from that night on until Christmas night we read Christmas stories by the tree before bed. Now that Christmas is over, we read to them in their play room. We feed them, change their diapers, and we alternate who reads them a story. So every night before bed. We like all kinds of books, right now we are on a chapter book, Alice in the Wonderland. But we've been buying books for a long time now, so they have a lot to choose from.

Just today was the first time I read them a book during the day, it ended up right before nap time. I didn't plan it that way, they just got sleepy . So that may be my new routine also. Books are great for parents and kids. It's a great time to bond with your children as well.

 

We started reading when the kids got home from the hospital and haven't stopped since. Now that they're 4 months old, they're a lot more interested in the books/pictures. They follow from left to right b/c I use my finger to point that way...I guess it's the teacher in me. They love the picture books (the ones with the sight words) and we read as many as 20 books a day! They love it!

 

This is difficult sometimes because I find that one will be interested and the other won't and sometimes literally for only a few minutes. Any suggestions would be great! My 26 mo. old DS has never been that interested in books so that too is a struggle. It's no fun when he doesn't want to listen and there is NO way I could actually read a story to him, he prefers picture books. Do you read stories or do pic. books or both? My DS will point to pics when we ask him "Where is the ...." and will name a few things but he is also speech delayed. Thanks!