Books

AJ recently has started to show more of an interest in books. Like most kids, he is especially into books that have rhyming phrases and/or singsong chants. His hands-down favorite for several weeks was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. with illustrations by Eric Carle. We could even get him to stop crying in the car just by reading this book to him. I am sad to say that he has started to loose interest in that one, because I haven't been able to find a replacement book that works nearly as well.

As a parent, the repetition of reading the same books over and over and over takes a lot of patience. After a few readings of the shorter books, I start to feel like I am on autopilot. My sister was an early childhood education major in college, and she recently told me that a study showed children need to hear something about 38 times before it goes into their permanent memory. I guess that explains why kids love repetition. It made it easier for me to read Brown Bear for the 37th time, though.