That budding book worm at home!

I started reading out to my little baby girl a while back I think when she was just about a year old. At first she would look at me fixedly then turn away. Some days I wondered if she was even a little bit interested in what I was reading or was she totally, completely bored. Voice modulation did make a difference, at least she reacted to my facial expressions. Then slowly over the last few months reading became a habit and the last 2-3 months she has started asking for specific books that are her favorites. So be it Sringeri Srinivas and the annual hair cut day from Pratham books which my little one calls "tigaa book" because there is a tiger in it (Spoiler Alert!!) or her Jane book (a Baby Einstein book where Jane the monkey pilots her plane to different places across the world to look for elephants. It gladdens my heart to see the excitement on her face when her father gets her new books, when she impatiently picks it up and says "Amma..Amma book...come" That means I have to sit next to her and we read. Again and Again till she asks for the next one.  Her smile says it all.

We began with smaller hard bound books that described birds, animals, vegetables and alphabets. But I felt her eyes searched for more when we finished reading those books over 100 times, that is when we switched to story books. She did'nt care that much for Rapunzel or Cinderella, a Panchatantra story caught her fancy and we never turned back. At bookstores even as pick up books for her, the choice is ultimately hers, she chooses which one she wants (final nominations done by me...can't leave everything upto her na..once she ran away from the kiddie section and tried hauling the hefty looking Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead!) When we realized that we were spending too much money on books we joined the library and now my daughter too gets a book every week. My maid often says these days, "Amma baby ka book collection aapke books se zyaada hai"! The readings have just begun! Yay to that budding bookworm at home!