Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. (Emilie Buchwald)




I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved going to the library and picking out tons of books to read. My parents encouraged us to read and sometimes that was our only option- read or read Kristen. I'm really glad that my parents unlocked that world for me though. There's just something about losing yourself in a good story and getting caught up in the narrative of someone elses' life or imagination. To this day, one of my favorite things to do is curl up on the couch with my coffee in one hand and a book in the other. 


So, needless to say, I want Everett to love reading too. As you know, he's a bit of a wild man: constantly moving, constantly going and stopping for nothing, except... a good book. I am not exaggerating. The child will not sit down and watch more than 2 minutes of a television show, but books? He sits and listens. He walks over to Aaron or I with a book and says, "reeeeead reeeeeeeead" until we do just that. I love it. We finish a book and he jumps up and goes to get another. Some days we read upwards of 20 books. Luckily, a sweet co-worker at school gave me two huge boxes of kids board books while I was pregnant, so we have quite the little library. It's a good thing too! Let's just say my wild man can be a little hard on the books sometimes.




When I started re-doing the living room I decided that I wanted to carve out a little reading nook for Everett. What better way to encourage his reading than to have a special place to read! I ended up getting a few spice racks from Ikea and my parents gave me a little rocking chair that was mine from growing up. I still have a sign I'm working on for the wall and a pillow for the chair, but it's perfect for now. A perfect little spot for books and reading and exploring those stories together.






So, if it is true that readers start on their parents laps, I think Everett is off to a good start. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The "reading nook" turned out great! He is sooo adorable!

DawnK said...

His little book nook is cute and I love that he has real books and not just some sort of electronic device. My mom raised a reader and my grown daughters have been readers since little on, too! Enjoy him learning how to read!