Munchkin the First is off to hospital again today for who-knows-how-long in another bid to have him gain weight before Munchkin the Second overtakes him. So, babies and the funny things babies do are on my mind tonight. Must be time for a blog post! (Okay, way past time, I know, but hey, now I have time).
I thought I'd share a story with you about the power of picture books (although I think anyone who has ever read a story to little person knows this well enough).
I love reading stories to kids, so I started out with M1 when he was pretty young. He's always loved being read to. When he was in the NICU, his dad would read him anything he could find with words on it, including cola bottles and a particularly dry business article. M1 didn't care. He'd listen with big eyes and rapt attention.
That hasn't changed.
He and I have a favorite book. It's called "Which Witch's Wand Works?" by Poly Bernatene. It tells the story of a witch called Rattle, a witch called Ricket, and their cat called Rum. M1 and I are particular fans of Rum and M1 points to him on every page with a giggle. Plus, there's the page where Rattle's spell misfires and makes Ricket blow up like a balloon until she pops and hisses her way around the room (must be careful not to give away too much of this exciting tale! hehe). M1 LOVES it when I make the hissing sound all around his neck and now giggles and scrunches up his shoulders as soon as we reach that page. He knows what's coming :)
I have to read the story at least once per day, and I don't mind one little bit.
On Christmas night, Munchkin the Second was demanding attention in the bedroom so I played with M1 while his mother did the nappy duty, etc. He rolled around as he usually does and found his way across the room. I'll admit it, I was too lazy to get up and get him. In a last ditch attempt to convince him to come back over to the me and the toys, I held up "Which Witch's Wand Works" and said, "Hey, M1, look what I have!"
He looked over, saw the book, and his eyes lit up! He flung himself across the room in a series of rolls so quick and violent his eyeballs were spinning in his head by the time he reached me. Plus, he squealed the whole way yelling, "Up! Up! Up!" (he's just learned about that word and its power to make people pick him up off the floor).
I was so chuffed by his excitement and reaction that of course I read the book, with extra witchy voices and double the hissing, of course! When his mum emerged from the bedroom again, I waited until M1 had rolled back to investigate the door and showed her the reaction to the book. Again, squeals and frantic rolls back over to me :) Of course, I had to read it again.
Boy, it was the cutest thing I ever saw.
And that, boys and girls, is how to charm the adults in your life into reading you the same picture book over and over without any protest and with extra good witch voices and hissing :)
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and Happy New Year!
.
I like to tell occasionally amusing stories about very odd things that could only happen to me -- but not in that really boring way. Honest.
7 comments:
I love this. :) We have a couple books like that. All of my kids love Mo Willems (especially the Elephant and the Piggy books and the Pigeon books). They also love Pinkalicious. I don't think I
ever had a kid come running (or rolling) for book time though. That is adorable.
"up, up, up!" I want scary witches and hisses, too. I love this anecdote, Wen. I could picture it entirely.
I wish all children had someone to read to them.
Ooh, I'll have to look those ones up, Natalie! He really loves ones that rhyme and have lots of fun things happening in them! I just found out that Which Witch's Wand Works has a sequel. Will have to get that too! His reaction was so funny, I could barely read it to him, I kept giggling so hard :D
Me too, Tricia! It seems like the one thing all children ought to have and yet they don't. It's awfully sad for the child, and for the person missing out on the reading. There's nothing better :)
its things like that, that should encourage people to read more to kids. kids love getting read to and i do really think that the more a kid is read to at a young age, the more chance they have of loving reading when they are older :)
I think so too. I read to my kids all the time and they were keen readers right through their teens.
Also, I can't see ebooks ever fully replacing paper books when it comes to picture books. He loves to turn the pages SO much and feel them. Plus, an electronic device would be way too distracting for littlies.
i think people of all ages like having an actual book in their hands, just feels right. better than a gadget does
I think so too. I hope they never stop paper books altogether. I do buy books for my kindle, but if I love the book, I buy the real one for my collection. I really like to have the real thing.
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