Anywhoo. Reading to your baby is good. Eating a whole box of girl scout cookies is bad. Here are some tips:
- Types: Sturdy board books that baby can chew on, turn around, and otherwise manipulate. Its gets even better when baby can participate in the process by touching and feeling the pages. Your baby also might like splashing with a vinyl book in the bathtub. Illustrations or photos should be simple (no complicated, overwhelming backgrounds), bright, and familiar: household items, animals, things that go, and especially other babies. How about a photo album of baby? My little girl loves this activity. (Early signs of narcissim? Should I be alarmed?) As for the words, they should be simple, too, so that you can keep the pages turning quickly. Books with lilts and intonations, sing song, rhyming are great also. Babies love that predictability of tone.
- Talk up a storm: You can engage baby with lots of ad libs and inserted commentary in an appealing and animated tone. Add silly voices and animal sounds. Yes, you will sound like a dork, but who cares? Baby loves that. Read often, slipping in stories whenever baby alert but calm. Try after meals, before naps, during or after a bath, and at bedtime.
- Set an example:You will show your baby that reading is fun by doing it yourself. Let baby see you enjoying a book or magazine; you can even read aloud from whatever you are reading. The words aren't as important as your enthusiasm for them. Any exposure to reading helps him learn how books work and builds vocabulary.
Right now I am reading this book called Animals, by Xavier Deneux to baby M. Its her favorite. Its a simple book of animals with just the names of the animals on the page, as well as clever peep holes. I ad lib a lot, by adding in the animal sounds. She loves it!
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