I love to read to Aiden, and love going to bookstores to find some new gems for our collection. I don’t feel guilty about buying books, I see them as more of an investment. If I’m going to spend over an hour a day reading to Aiden, I may as well choose books I like too!
Lately I’ve tried to go outside of Chapters to see what other books I can find. I’m getting tired of the flashcard-y “first words” / “first colours” etc books – there’s no story to them! Aiden’s taken a fancy to books that have more of a rhyme to them, so we’re exploring longer nursery rhymes and some stories too.
We shop for kids books at:
I’d love to know where you search for books – do chime in!!
Aiden received a subscription to Wild Animal Baby for his birthday, a magazine put out by the National Wildlife Federation for toddlers.
The magazine introduces toddlers to different animals with stories, songs, activity ideas, matching puzzles and a team of wild animal baby explorer cartoons. In the first magazine we received, the explorers learned how to slide down an icy hill, with the skunk going “whee”. Now, every time Aiden sees these characters, he says “whee” and falls to the side to mimic the sliding. Even if it’s not that edition.
When this magazine first came, he was beyond obsessed with it. And with the “whee”. I tried to hide the magazine for a few days to let the obsession die down. Eventually it did, though he enjoys reading each magazine and has fun with the activities. This month there was a song game about a frog eating flies that he adored.
If you’re looking for an alternative to books, I’d definitely recommend this magazine! Although he doesn’t yet understand getting mail, I think in future a magazine coming just for him will be a special treat.
Chapters sells a whole series of Chunky Animals books from the UK. They are very inexpensive, durable, and fun. We have both the Frog and the Dog versions. In the frog version, one page has always annoyed me. The page where Hopper (the frog) meets with Wart and “gribbits away until the day’s end”. Well, it’s ribbit… isn’t it?
I became unsure of myself. Is it really ribbit, or have I been saying it wrong all these years? I looked it up…
Gribbit
(1) The act of milking a Gerbil or hamster and using the liquid extracted as lubricant whilst jerking off.
(2) When one Gerbil mounts another and starts to have intercourse.
(3) When two people do it, gerbil style.
Yup, definitely ribbit. So… mistake, or an author’s sick joke?
Reading the same books over and over again can get boring… at least for Mom & Dad. Aiden, however, doesn’t seem to mind it. He goes through phases of loving a set of books for a few weeks, then gradually moving onto a new set of favourite books. Right now, his top picks are any that involve singing… and those aren’t always song-related books. I tend to read off-script on a lot of books, especially the flashcardy-type books that lack actual stories. I describe things, tell tiny stories, make sound effects and, more than anything, sing.
Aiden has grown to love the singing parts, and starts bobbing up and down whenever we get to a page that has a song. He may keep bobbing each time he wants a repeat performance.
Some are obvious – stars get Twinkle, Twinkle – some are not so obvious – the banjo pictured above gets a verse from I’ve Been Working on the Railroad. Sometimes we have fake songs too, like the tune we sing for rocking horses.
The problem, however, with this off-scripted experience is that other readers – Dad or either grandma – don’t know what the heck Aiden is bobbing up and down for. I hadn’t thought about this when I started off-scripting. Oops!
Aiden definitely has favourite books, though his favourites shift. Of this three favourite books from back in September, at 11 months, only Tails is still a contender in top 5 faves. Now, Aiden will go through periods of a week or so when he’s obsessed with certain books.
This month, Aiden’s favourite books are I Love You Through And Through, Good Night, Gorilla and Mother Goose. He loves the first book because I’ve made up some actions to go with the pages, and he especially loves the pages when I tickle him (for ‘silly’ and ‘giggles’). I’m not sure about what appeals to him on Good Night, Gorilla – perhaps because it’s never quite the same. With very few words, the story is mostly one we make up each time.
Aiden loves the Mother Goose book that we received from the BC government when he was born. The book is illustrated by Canadians and features various nursery rhymes. He hates some of them but loves others. His favourite is the ‘Over in the Meadow’ one since we also sing it on Raffi’s CD.
We also have a Thomas the Tank Engine book that I can’t find online. It’s a 2010 edition that plays the theme music and has three stories. Aiden loves the song, even without ever having seen the show!
