Wes-Wes has come around!

I think it worked! I think writing this blog has reverse-jinxed us. Wes-Wes, who just turned 17 months, is now very willing to sit and have books read to him. He even asks (through grunts and pointing) to have books read to him. Just within the last month he went from not sitting through one board book to wanting a pile of 15 of them read to him each night. He started greatly enjoying nursery rhymes as well.

I am not sure what switch got flipped in him, but I sure like it! So far I have been sticking to board books. He has a tendency to want to rip them out of my hands at the end and page through them himself. Paper pages would never survive. He enjoys our Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle collection, which is all the variations on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The colors and repetition seem to keep him engaged. Wes-Wes likes to turn the pages quickly in this book so I find myself reading it at a very quick speed. Maybe a few of you can relate?

Wes-Wes' absolute favorite right now is Baby, Boo! from Amazing Baby (http://www.amazingbaby.net/).  

Don't really click, I 'borrowed' the pic from Amazon

It is very simply a peek-a-boo book, but he giggles every time and then does the sign for "more" when we are done (he only knows two baby sign language words, "more" and "all done"). There is a mirror page at the end and Wes-Wes sticks his face right up to it.

A friend of mine from high school is currently expecting her first and I was absolutely delighted to see that a huge chunk of her baby registry is board books. I was so wrapped up in bedding sets and diaper quantities at that point that I didn't even think to wander over to the book section and scan a few titles. Luckily we had lots of friends and family who were on top of bulking up our board book supply.

The other thing I love about board books is that they stash in my purse much easier than a picture book. P-man has started swimming lessons and I cram as many board books in my purse as it will hold (usually 7-8) to keep Wes-Wes occupied during the lesson. Even though they only take about 30 seconds to read, 8 board books will totally satisfy Wes-Wes for most of the half hour lesson. As I mentioned in an earlier post, choose your board books carefully, you will be reading them ad nauseam. I put a cap on reading one board book five times in a row. That is just about all I can take.

It is so nice to have Wes-Wes at the point where he will sit and listen to books now. What a great calming agent, and it is setting him up for a lifetime of literacy. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go stop him from using the board books as a weapon against his older brother.