Baby J's Library

Anyone who knows me knows how much I have love reading.  As a child I read and was read to constantly.  I remember being at K-mart with my parents more than once begging them to buy me a book.  My argument was it wasn't a toy but an educational purchase.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't and I was told I could use my allowance to buy it myself.  When I was young my favorite series was the Berenstein Bears.  As a grew up I read everything by Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Roald Dahl and The Sweet Valley Twins series.  One year for my birthday my uncle sent me a $50 gift certificate to Waldens Books.  You would have thought he gave me a million dollars I was so excited.  That very weekend I made my parents drive me to the mall so I could spend it.  I bought like ten Sweet Valley Twin books (all of which I still have). 

When I was in college I babysat for the coolest family in the world!  They had a 2 year old daughter who I absolutely adored and I spent many hours reading to her.  After I graduated I stayed in contact with them and every year for her birthday I send her a book that I loved as a kid.  She now has a little brother and I send him one too.  It is always so much fun to pick which ones I'm going to send.  Both kids are avid readers and that just tickles me pink!

Now that I have my own child I hope to pass on the love of reading to him too.  The picture above is Baby J's library.  He has 130 books so far.  Not bad for an 11 week old kid.  I'd say a little more than half of them are my books from childhood and others I've purchased from thrift stores and garage sales.  The rest were given to him as baby gifts.  My baby shower was a score in the book department.  The best part was the variety.  He got pop-up books, touch and feel, regular storybooks, counting books, interactive books and books with a puppet to go along with it.  I think my favorite of all of them was the "Foodie ABC's" book from my friend Julie.  That book rocks!  It has things like "R is for Radicchio.  I mean come on, how cool is that?

Every night Jim and I lay on the floor and read to Baby J from his library.  Believe it or not he loves it!  He will sit and stare at the pictures and listen to every word you say.  He even fell asleep one night while we were reading to him.  It has become my favorite family ritual.  There is nothing better than watching your "manly husband" laying on the floor reading his son "Elmo goes to the Zoo".  Makes my heart melt every time!