Reading to your baby

We started reading to Victoria when she was still in my womb. We made our little story time a daily habit. I talked to her a lot when she was still in my belly, so she knew the sound of my voice well, but I also decided it was important for her to hear Jaesung (my husband) speak, and so every day I would bring a book, place it firmly in his hands and demand our story time. As busy as he always is with all the dental school stuff, I could tell he enjoyed it a lot, too, even though he probably wouldn't admit it. Eventually, he'd pick a book and "initiate" the story time himself. I believe it made him feel needed, and I think it was an important bonding experience. But hey, we're here to talk about reading to babies, not about my husband, right? :) 

After Victoria was born, we continued on with our little tradition. Of course, it wasn't easy at first (OK, more like impossible!). She was too small, too fragile and too.. well, uninterested, at the beginning. We would still try to read to her, but not as much as before. It wasn't until she was about 3 months old when we picked it up again, and she seems to love it now. 

It is truly amazing to sit there and watch my husband read to Victoria. This tiny little creature sitting in her dad's lap, staring at the colorful pictures with interest and amazement. I love those little moments! I love reading to her myself, observing her reactions as I point to different pictures, seeing her turn her head occasionally towards the sound of my voice and then turning her attention back to the book. It's such an amazing experience. 

Being a book blogger of 5 years and an avid reader, it is very important to me that my daughter grows up to be a reader herself. Lucky for me, I have plenty of books I can read to her (books aren't cheap, I think we all know that). Being able to receive free children's books is a huge privilege and I'm grateful for each and every single one of them. 

If you wonder about benefits of reading to your baby, or when is a good time to start, here's some information & tips I hope you'll find helpful:

• Reading to your baby is an important form of stimulation and it's never too early to start. Fetuses recognize their mother's voice from the womb. Newborn babies love hearing your voice. Reading to your toddler will help develop listening skills, stimulate interest in sounds, build memory, vocabulary, and give your child information about the surrounding world. 
• It's also a phenomenal bonding time and a great opportunity to cuddle and enjoy something together. Turn it into a daily routine, and your child will eventually start demanding story time himself. 
• Reading introduces your baby to new concepts and teaches them about colors, shapes, numbers and ideas in a fun way. 
• Board books and picture books with bold, colorful illustrations are sure to spark your baby's interest and help him focus on the book. He won't understand the story just yet, but he'll enjoy listening to your voice. Try reading to him using different, silly voices to make it more fun. Repetition is your friend - it will help familiarize your child with different words and, eventually, help improve his language skills. 
• It's scientifically proven that children that are read to at an early age, are smarter. They learn to read earlier and more easily, and their communication and learning skills develop at a much younger age. Remember, your baby is like a sponge, the habits he'll learn at a very young age will likely stay with him forever. 
• Cuddling with mommy + listening to mommy's voice + seeing colorful pictures = positive experience that will solidify your child's love for books. 

Currently Reading: The Signature Of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Signature of All Things is coming out in a beautiful paperback very soon and to celebrate that, we are giving away a copy on Bookish (US only, enter HERE).

I am only about half-way through the book right now (and it's a long one - 500 pages in a tiny font), but I am completely and utterly mesmerized by both the gorgeously rendered historical settings and Gilbert's beautiful writing style. 

I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love. 

Nor have I read any of her other novels.

This is my first experience with her prose. And I am kicking myself for not picking up one of her books earlier. 

It's, well, quite frankly, amazing. Intelligent, clever, meaningful, charming.. 

Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel centers around the Whittaker family - focusing mainly on Henry Whittaker, a self-made millionaire who makes a fortune in the South American quinine trade, and his daughter, Alma, a brilliant and gifted botanist. It's a meticulously researched, evocative tale of ambition, love, desire and the thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. 

“Take me someplace where we can be silent together.”

     “You see, I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me. I have wondered why it is not large and beautiful enough for others-- why they must dream up new and marvelous spheres, or long to live elsewhere, beyond this dominion... but that is not my business. We are all different, I suppose. All I ever wanted was to know this world. I can say now, as I reach my end, that I know quite a bit more of it than I knew when I arrived. Moreover, my little bit of knowledge has been added to all the other accumulated knowledge of history-- added to the great library, as it were. That is no small feat, sir. Anyone who can say such a thing has lived a fortunate life.”

“The trick at every turn was to endure the test of living for as long as possible. The odds of survival were punishingly slim, for the world was naught by a school of calamity and an endless burning furnace of tribulation. But those who survived the world shaped it--even as the world, simultaneously, shaped them.”

“I would like to spend the rest of my days in a place so silent–and working at a pace so slow–that I would be able to hear myself living.”