by Kim Sharpe

Created on: August 01, 2008   Last Updated: February 06, 2011

The written word has always been an important aspect of my life. From the time I can remember I had my nose in a book. I read quite early and young. I suppose I spent more time reading books as a child then actually playing. As my passion for reading advanced I also began to write short stories. I took an avid interest in journal keeping and spent many long hours recording my day in creative writing.

Now that I have two babies of my own I want them to grow up to love books every bit as much as I have done. I feel that my life has been enriched through reading and I want to give that joy to my two little ones.

During both of my pregnancies I read to my babies before they were ever born. I felt that reading aloud calmed the child in my womb. I think that the babies could hear the rhythm of my voice and the sing song aspect of the words and they both enjoyed it because they would calm down inside of me and listen. After they were both born I read to them as newborns. With both my daughter and son I would go to bed early so that we could lay together and I would read to them. I would feed them a bottle and read aloud.

Now that my daughter is a toddler she automatically goes and gets one of her beloved books and brings it to me to read to her at bedtime. She snuggles down next to me and her baby brother and we ready. She loves every moment of it. And I even think her baby brother enjoys those special moments together. I know that I can remember as a little girl my mother doing the same thing with me. I loved snuggling next to my mother as she read to me. I used to enjoy going to the library with her and picking out books together. I am striving to give that same love and appreciation to my two children also.

I think that I have achieved something with focusing so much on books with my babies. My daughter is two now and she adores her books. She spends many hours sitting in her special chair with a book in her hands going lovingly through the pages. She will bring them over to me and show me interesting things that she sees. When we go to a store she always points to the books and begs for one. She adores them.

I hope that as both she and her baby brother grow and learn to read that they will take the enjoyment that I've gotten from books to heart. I think it will ultimately enrich their lives.

So all we can do as parents is share our love of books with our children and hope they follow in our footsteps. Its also such a wonderful thing to snuggle with her little one and read to him or her. They are the perfect audience. The love to share those close moments together and enjoy a colorful book.

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