Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The lazy parent (Installment 1 of many)

What are your kids' favorite books? What are *your* favorite children's books?

I apologize to the overachiever-moms reading this, but I think the benefits of reading to infants are marginal if existent. Olivia is no longer a newborn, so now I feel guilty that I am robbing her of brilliance, but I still haven't been reading to her. My friend Val assures me I have not missed the window of opportunity, but yesterday Dr. Robertson -- as part of his list of assignments for 6-month appointments -- said it's time to start reading to Olivia as part of a bedtime routine.

We've had no real bath/bedtime routine as we only bathe her twice a week because of the excema and have deprived her of books thus far. Dr. R said 50% of kids benefit from spacing baths out and the other half benefit from a daily scrubbing, so we're going to try more frequent baths. In the real tub! We didn't drag the baby tub to the mountains, so we just bathed Olivia in the big tub and she did just fine. No more soaking the countertops in the kitchen.

We were given several books as shower gifts (the caterpillar and bear, Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon), but in general I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to children's books. I was recently introduced to Mo Willems by Val's son Coulson. I'm not sure why the pigeon stick figures won a Caldecott Honor, but the books are clever and make me chuckle. I want more like those.

So feel free to comment... What are your kids' favorite books? What are your favorite books to read to them over and over?

2 comments:

running shoes said...

Barnyard Dance for sure! When he got older (and more coordinated) we did all the dance moves from the book.
He still loves it.

If I think of more, I'll let you know.

Lauren Bryson said...

i love reading llama llama red pajama to my little 5 mo old, not sure really what she gets from it other than cuddle time with mommy, but it's fun.