Throughout his infancy, it was pretty obvious that Sam enjoyed certain books more than others, but the book choices that we made were largely based on what Brian and I preferred to read, since Sam didn’t really have a way to express his own preferences.
Once Sam hit the 12 month mark, he let his preferences be known. We experienced a noticeable shift in what we read around our house.
He no longer seemed to enjoy most of his story-based books. Instead, he just wanted to see/read and re-read certain pages from those books over and over. We must have read, “The bear wakes up and the bear feels GOOD!” (from Bear Feels Sick
) hundreds of times. When he was very relaxed or sleepy, he would still let us read him story books in their entirety, but those times were pretty few and far between.
) hundreds of times. When he was very relaxed or sleepy, he would still let us read him story books in their entirety, but those times were pretty few and far between.
Instead of stories, Sam really liked:
- “Identify” type books with photos of objects and single word captions (this
)
- Interactive books – lift-the-flap and touch-and-feel. (this
, this
)
- Books with photos of babies. (this
)
- Personalized books that included photos of him/ photos from our life.
- Books he could “read” on his own – he particularly liked his Hallmark read-aloud book that my mom and step-dad recorded for him. (this)
- Small books that he could easily hold in his hands. We have a stash of books that are even smaller than regular board books and he seemed to like holding onto those and turning the pages.
- Any books with animals. He became verbal during this time frame and enjoyed making all of the animal sounds. (this)
The types of books that he suddenly seemed to enjoy weren’t the most stimulating for us to read, but it was more than awesome to watch him soak in new information and start to interact with the reading material.
He did still enjoy his nursery rhyme book (we love Out Came the Sun
), but let us know which rhymes he did NOT want us to read and we learned to skip those pages. As that was a lot more enjoyable for Brian and I to read than “one ball, two ducks, three boats,” we read a lot of nursery rhymes.
), but let us know which rhymes he did NOT want us to read and we learned to skip those pages. As that was a lot more enjoyable for Brian and I to read than “one ball, two ducks, three boats,” we read a lot of nursery rhymes.
Between 18 and 20 months, Sam shifted preferences all over again and now likes his story books. He still enjoys all of the book types listed above, but he no longer wants to read them repeatedly or seeks out those books as his first choice.
Watching him grow and change and learn is an amazing thing. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to do so.
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