Our Little Reader

I love books. I love to read. That is a gift my mom gave all of us kids when we were little. The rule always was...we could stay up as late as we wanted as long as we were quiet, in bed and reading. I remember many nights where I would fall asleep with my books (even before I could read) with the light on only to wake up the next morning with my books carefully laid on the floor, the light off and all tucked in. (thanks Mom!!)

I am always in the middle of at least 2-3 books. If you scroll down to the bottom of this blog, you'll even find a few of my all-time favorite books. My sisters love to read and so does my brother. Kevin is a good reader as well but as his free time is somewhat limited these days, he takes a bit longer to get through the latest Harry Potter or Jared Diamond novel.

I really, really, really want Maelin to love reading as much as I do. I firmly believe that it's the building block for all good things in learning and in life. If she's a good reader and enjoys doing it, she'll be more successful in grammar...English will be a cake walk for her because she'll be familiar with the parts of speech. She'll be a much better writer because she'll know how the sentences are supposed to be formed and what makes a competent paragraph. She'll be more knowledgeable in math, science, folklore, history and all sorts of other subjects because of the many stories she'll have read. Study after study says that if a child is a good reader (ie: at grade level) by 3rd grade, that child has a great chance of being a successful student throughout their school career.

Anyway, I spent a great deal of money this year furnishing Maelin's personal library. She is lucky that she has an Elementary School Teacher for a mommy...I joined the preschool, the Kindergarten, and the 1st grade reading book club. I get books for 75% off the sticker price, I don't pay taxes on them and I get bonus points. I got enough this year to get a free "kid-sized" couch for our home library I'm going to set up in our basement!!

So the poor kid is barely 14 months old today and boy, does she have some expectations put on her already!! The child probably has 1,000 books by now...everything from cloth baby books to the chapter books I loved as a child (Where the Sidewalk Ends, Judy Blume, Ramona, etc...). Now if only she'd learn to read already...

We're off to a great start. I don't know if it's in her genes from her Nana Linnie (Grandma Lea loves to read too so she gets it from both sides of the family), or because she's naturally curious or because she's humoring me, but I don't care what it is...the kid LOVES books.

She loves to open and close them. She loves to be read to. She loves to open the book and point out all the pictures to you and she waits for your reaction. She spent 48 minutes (I timed her) the other day "reading" the same 2 books over and over again. I'm so excited. The gift of loving to read is priceless. I've had so much experience with struggling readers and it's heartbreaking...I couldn't be happier that she's showing such an interest in books now.

Here's a couple of pictures of our little reader. We'll have to set up a proper library for her in the new house!