We went through a phase where our nighttime and nap-time routines did not include book reading mostly because we didn't have the energy for it. Getting Ethan in bed was tough enough, but getting him to stay in bed was an even bigger ordeal. As I cross all my fingers and toes...I'm declaring that we are now on the other side of that and thankfully reading has re-emerged.
When Ethan was a baby we read him story books. As he grew bigger and his attention span grew smaller, we switched to what I'd like to call the "What's that?" books. I have now hidden all of those from him because if I'm forced to answer "what's that?" or "find baby's (fill in the blank)" one more time, I might just lose it. There is definitely a great age range for those books, but now that we have surpassed it, I don't find them quite as cute.
Thankfully now, we are back in story book land and while I do get the "What's that?" question still from time to time, I at least get to read charming stories. And let's face it, as the one reading these things a million times over, they better have cute stories, pretty pictures or fun activities.
Above, is the picture of one of our current favorite books, Steam Train, Dream Train
. It is the follow up book to another favorite that I'm sure you have probably heard of by now, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
. (I could make a whole post about truck books in itself, but I'll refrain in favor of variety.) Steam Train, Dream Train is perfect for bedtime as it easily lends itself to winding down overly excited toddlers. It has beautiful pictures to look at and allows kids to point things out if they aren't exactly into storytime itself. I also use the pictures as an opportunity to work on counting. How many monkeys? How many dump trucks? (Yes, this book still has some trucks which is a major win for us.) What colors do you see?
As I keep culling books that I deem too baby-ish for Ethan, I find myself constantly on the search for new reads. I'm not one to enjoy reading the same thing again and again so I like to keep fresh books on hand for both of our enjoyment. Hopefully this children's book review topic will become a regular-ish post around here...but if the past has any indication...the fact that I just made that statement probably just sent those aspirations into the land of no return so we will just have to wait and see what happens.