My Baby Can Read (or at least point!)

Sadie's mind really is like a little sponge (today's picture is pretty old, but it shoes her "reading" about six months ago!). If she had her way our time would be divided between reading books (the same dozen books over and over again) and sitting in the little baby pool on the deck. Today we were looking at a book that had a picture of a little girl reading a book. Since Sadie is so into pointing things out for us I asked her to point out the book. Instead of pointing to the book, she pointed to the word "book." She also pointed out the elephant in another picture and when I read the word arm she touched her own arm. When I read the word clap she even started to clap. It's so much fun to see her learning and beginning to understand new things.

I do have to admit that when Sadie was very small I got sucked into an infomercial. I was nursing Sadie up and Nani and Grumpa's house and the TV was on. Dr. Tizner came on and started talking about brain development and babies learning and the next think I knew they were showing a little eighteen month old girl who was reading Charlotte's Web and another who could read the word "hippopotamus" out loud off of a flash card. It was very early in the morning (which was why I was watching an infomercial in the first place) and I was sold (a quick side note: when Sadie was first born Paul was still working three day shifts away from us and I would stay at my parents house because the cabin can be a little scary when your all alone, or at least it used to seem that way). I went online and after being shocked by the price (it is not the $14 they promise on TV) I paid for Your Baby Can Read in three installments.

I was skeptical by the time it finally arrived (about two months later). Sadie was too. It's a set of different supplies that include books, flash cards, more books, dvds and slider cards. I put a dvd in and Sadie look pointedly away and fussed. After about a week she started to watch about five minutes of the 20 minute program. By the end of the month she was hooked and while I don't advocate parking your baby in front of the TV, it was nice to have 20 minutes to run around and get things done (or just sit and knit). I haven't counted on the program to teach Sadie to read, but I do feel that she's learning from it. And she has become obsessed with the books that accompanied the dvds. She goes and gets the board books on her own and tries to slide the flaps to do it by herself.

There are other books that she loves too, and they are much more affordable. She's a big fan of the Begin Smart series. Some of her favorites are Meow, Hello Baby, Baby Plays Pat Pat, Splish Splash and Woof. They're really simple and they have tips on different ways to read them to your baby as she begins to learn.

Our new favorites are Roger Priddy's "My Big Word Books." We picked up My Big Word Book at a yard sale for a dollar and Sadie is hooked. So a few days ago I broke down and ordered a few more of the Big Word Books online. They're just under ten dollars at Walmart and they're half that on Amazon, so it's a pretty good deal. We're waiting for My Big Truck Book (Sadie loves trucks and tractors because she sees Grumpa working on them, My Big Train Book and My Big Animal Book. Hopefully these books are as good as the first. There are also My Big books on dinosaurs, rescue vehicles and all sorts of other things.

I don't know if Sadie will be saying "hippopotamus" in a few months, but I am so excited that she's recognizing and pointing out words. And I'm especially excited that she's excited about reading!