Our Little Bookworm

Hayley is a little book lover these days. She loves to have stories read to her, as well as sit by herself and look through book after book. She frequently "reads" these books to herself, either telling the story as she remembers hearing it, or just making up something based on the pictures in the book.

Whenever we go to the library (which is usually every week), Hayley asks for books to look at the minute we get out to the car. When we get home, she will sit by the bookcase and look through a pile of books. (In this picture, she is sitting in the old car seat we just brought inside from the van.)

At naptime and bedtime, Hayley always wants to have a big pile of books in her crib with her. She usually stacks these books up on one (or both) sides and as she reads them, she moves them to the other side. (Sometimes she is quite picky about where the pile should go!). Sometimes the books end up on the floor when she's done. Frequently she hollers for more books before she falls asleep. When she wakes up, she often sits and looks through the books again (here she is after waking up from a nap).

Sometimes she even falls asleep while looking at the books:

I've noticed that when we read bedtime stories, she immediately snags the books we just read to take to bed with her. This makes it easy to get her in bed -- she's anxious to get in her crib and start re-reading the books. If it's a new book, she'll open to a page and ask me what it says before I leave the room. I'll usually say something very simple about the picture, but that's enough for her to be off telling her story. It's so funny at night to turn on the baby monitor and listen to her jabber away to herself. She can stay up pretty late some nights with her piles of books!