Odd reading habits

Ezra is doing something with books that Elias isn't so it seems pretty odd to me...actually, it is pretty odd. I just want to know whether other kids do it too. First, whenever he goes for a book, and he loves books, and he's looking at the pictures, he'll look at them upside down. He's two! Surely he can see that the pictures don't look right that way? It doesn't seem to phase him at all. He also gets frustrated that he can't pick the items in the pictures off the pages. I thought that behaviour was for much younger kids. He didn't do it when he was younger but is doing it now. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with his eyes or maybe the part of his brain that translates what he is seeing. Or I could just be a complete worry wart and it's all normal.

What do you think?

 

Hmmm, none of my kids have ever done that at any age so I really can't help. That seems weird to me since I have never heard of that before. I'm interested in what others have to say.

 

My girls went through a phase of trying to pick things out of books too. They both did it at the same time, so I just assumed that was normal. (ha) I can't remember how long they did it, perhaps a few weeks or a month? And if I remember correctly, they were about 18 months old... so younger than your son but still around the same age. I had to explain a thousand times that things in books are just pictures, not the actual item. It took a while but they got it and now "read" in a typical fashion. I don't know much about holding the book upside down, but Piper does that from time to time. Sometimes she's trying to be silly, and other times it seems like she just wants a change.

Have you tried asking Ezra why he's looking at books upside down? I don't know if he has the language to express it, but sometimes when I ask the girls questions I'm surprised at the answers. Cricket ate a piece of pepperoni weird this morning... she nibbled all around the edge, making the round pepperoni smaller and smaller, but not showing any real bite marks. When I asked she told me she "No want see teeth bites. Want make tiny baby pepperoni". You may find that Ezra has some perfectly logical (to him) reason for reading upside down!

 

My kids went through a phase of purposely looking at books upside down too. Don't remember exactly when, but well into toddlerhood. I wondered if they liked the challenge of trying to make sense of things from a different angle.

QUOTE
"No want see teeth bites. Want make tiny baby pepperoni".


:rotflmbo: That's the best laugh I've had all day! Thank you!

 

QUOTE(idril @ May 23 2009, 02:54 PM) [snapback]1325781[/snapback]
Have you tried asking Ezra why he's looking at books upside down? I don't know if he has the language to express it, but sometimes when I ask the girls questions I'm surprised at the answers. Cricket ate a piece of pepperoni weird this morning... she nibbled all around the edge, making the round pepperoni smaller and smaller, but not showing any real bite marks. When I asked she told me she "No want see teeth bites. Want make tiny baby pepperoni". You may find that Ezra has some perfectly logical (to him) reason for reading upside down!


I second this advice. One of mine kept bring home these pictures from school where all the people were so angry. I got really worried that she saw our house as a very angry place, and I had visions of CPS. I asked her why all her people always looked so angry and she said, "Because angry eyebrows are fun to draw" and started giggling. :lol:

 

Karina used to look at books upside down occasionally, but she doesn't anymore. Kevan still does, however -- I just thought it was because he was developmentally somewhat behind her. It never occurred to me that he might have his own complex reasons for doing so, LOL. Either way, I'm pretty sure it's normal.

Mine have never tried to pluck anything out of a picture, though. That's interesting! But we do have a lot of touch-and-feel books, lift-the-flap, and so forth -- and they love interacting with those. So I don't think that's much different than trying to grab whatever they see in the book...

Tricia, your girls' grasp of language is just amazing!

 

My kids used to get frustrated they couldn't pick things off the pages too! Now they say, "It's just a picture, mama. You can't play it." - so I guess they finally figured it out.

 

My DS does the same thing! And not only are they upside down, he reads them in reverse! Weird kid!

 

Both of my girls pick things out of books, all the time. They smell fowers, taste the food in then, pet the animals, etc. They never did it out of frustration and I actually thought that it was a good thing. I looked at it as they were ACTIVELY reading the book. As for frustration, I think that toddlers see everything as so real, why wouldn't the items in the book be real?? I think it is absolutely normal.
jena

 

Mine will pretend to read with it however it is. Upside down, sideways .... they are 4 - they definitely know better. I think it's just a way to pretend!