Mmmmmm, Paperbacks

Well, lately I have been devouring books like there is no tomorrow. Just in the past couple of weeks I have read The Educated Child, and The Five Love Languages. This may not sound impressive to some, but don't forget I have an infant connected to me most of the day and an energetic four year old. So there!

Currently, I am reading an awesome book called, The Read-Aloud Handbook. It may sound odd, but yes it is actually about reading out loud. It gives an insane amount of scientific support for reading out loud to your kids. I love it. Jim Trelease you are my hero! He also managed to compile a great treasury of books for different ages. I will easily be using this book for the next ten years or so.

Something Jim talks about in the book is how most children can comprehend listening to books three to fours years above their reading level. While this may sound trivial, it has challenged me to step up the books I read to Devon. I mean she loves her picture books, but we both know almost all of them by heart. So Saturday we ventured to the Austin Public Library and got Devon her very own library card. She was in love! The awe of owning her own library card was enchanting. I picked out a small chapter book, with five chapters to see if Jim was right. And of course, he was. Devon comprehended just as well as a Franklin book. And we have read it about three times a day so far, but that's ok, she's worth it. Next time I'm going to try for one a bit longer. It's like my own little education experiment, mwah ah ah ah.

Now everyone knows Devon has been a book girl from infancy, but the challenge now is to instill the same love of books to Matthew. So far we are off to a good start!

Here is Devon at four months, she was such a little chunker. :D

Here is Matthew, who is now four months old. So far, so good!