I am seeing such an explosion in language skills in my 18 month old daughter. She is quick to imitate words verbally and shows great comprehension of words, displayed especially when reading. I will ask her to identify objects/animals/situations in the book and she will accurately point them out. I have been reading to her since her newborn days. In addition to reading the text, I always try to describe what the pictures are conveying and how they relate to the story. It’s wonderful to see that she is actually absorbing that information and learning!
Especially amazing to me is when reading the book, Go, Dog, Go! we get to the last page and she exclaims, “PARTY!” Then we linger on this page for a while and I ask her questions like: “Where is the sleeping dog? Where is the dog serving cake? Where are the dogs jumping on the trampoline? Where is the dog jumping rope?” The first time I did this with her at 17 months old, I didn’t expect her to point them out correctly, but she did and it completely blew my mind. (But then again, as a first time mom, every new development leaves me awestruck.)
Go, Dog. Go! is one of Baby Champuru’s favorite books and she calls it by her version of the title (“go dog!”). She will go through an entire stack of books in a basket to find this particular one. Even at this age she is forming opinions and discovering her preferences. This book is a great “first reader” and I highly recommend it.
I believe that reading to your child at an early age helps develop language skills and a love for reading that will stay with them for a lifetime. What are your children’s favorite books?
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2 Responses to Language Explosion!
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Chris’ favorite books are Dr. Seuss (though we don’t have Go Dog Go – he loves Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat), Busytown, Max & Ruby (including other Rosemary Well’s books) and Olivia. We do have a plethora of books to choose from and Chris’ interests have changed as he’s gotten older. I like to buy some of the old fashioned type of children books such as Cordoroy, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Engine, etc. He likes these books as well. It’s fun to read to him and find out what he likes and doesn’t like. We’re getting really close to reading… I’m sure once he can read on his own, he’ll never stop!
The dog tree party at the end is my favorite!
The page is so cute!