Books & Reading

We love to read. I don't get to read my own books as much as I would like, but I attempt to read with the kids as much as possible. I used to have all the children's books organized in a bookcase in color order, but ever since our little one became mobile, I moved all the books with paper pages up in a glass cabinet. The baby books are on a lower shelf and our one-year-old Sally has full access to them. She has picked her favorites: Your Personal Penguin and Snuggle Puppy!, both by Sandra Boynton. What is special about these books is that you don't just read them, you *sing* them. These two books were, and still are, loved by Jonah, who is now four and a half. He often joins me in singing whenever Sally wants to hear them.

Spot the Dog was one of my favorites as a small child, and my kids like to read and watch it too. The alphabet Jonah has on his wall was a free printable from funwithspot.com. It seems like we have the alphabet everywhere. There are flash cards, a poster, games, books, iPod apps, memory card games etc. Having all the letters and numbers around have paid off, too. Jonah learned his letters and numbers early and has now started to read in Finnish. He is still practicing reading in English.