Reading to Daniel

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 16 March 2006 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

One of my favourite activities to do with Daniel is to read to him. There are several ways I do this - 1) I make him sit facing me so that he can watch me pronounce all the words as I read to him, 2) We both sit facing the same direction, him nestling within the warm space created by my legs and arched back, with the book in front of us 3) He lies down on the mattress and I lie next to him. Then, I lift the book high up in the air and read to him. The 3rd way is actually my favourite way of reading to Daniel because my view of him is like this.

Isn't he adorable up close? He loves my reading voice and often ends up staring at me more than the book!

I'm not sure if reading to someone of such a tender age has any benefits. But it sure is fun and a great opportunity to converse about any number of things. I love the DK (Dorling Kindersley) series of children's books - they have pretty captivating stuff, like "My first body board book" which shows pictures of baby hands, legs, faces, hair, eyes and so on. I use this to show Daniel what his various body parts are called. Daniel always gets very excited when we come to the page where there is pictures of babies - probably thinks they're real babies or something! He keeps pawing at them and cooing self-consciously, as if he's so pleased to meet them or something.

Then, there is the "Touch and Feel Home" book, also by DK. With this book, Daniel gets to feel various textures, including a furry kitten, a rough towel and a smooth curtain. The last page of the book, however, is his favourite: It's a mirror! He always gets a kick out of seeing himself. It's hilarious!

The other series of books I read to Daniel is the Sandra Boynton books. Some of us will remember Sandra Boynton who draws quirky animals on T-shirts.

Sandra's quirky animals and quirky sense of humour has spawned an entire industry of T-shirts, jewellery, calendars, children's books and even, a musical called "Philadelphia Chickens", which I have the soundtrack to. (It's hilarious by the way!)

I'll admit, the Sandra Boynton books are more for kids of the age where they can appreciate rhyme and cute pictures - Daniel spends most of his time trying to chew her books! But the thing is, I love these books and so I read them to Daniel in the hope that one day he'll understand and love them too. Titles like "A to Z", "Blue Hat, Green Hat" and "The Going to Bed Book" are lovely to read and I suppose, if anything, they get Daniel used to the patterns and inflections of the English language.

Hmm... what do you read to your child? ^__^