Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Story Hour

Okay, let's be honest: every hour that we're home is story hour in Clio's mind. It's interesting to watch her go through phases in books, and to see the relative simplicity or sophistication of board books. For example, after a long fascination with books about babies, Clio got much more interested in "Word" and "counting" books, but we recently re-discovered Baby's Day


(it was stashed in the bottom of a diaper bag we hadn't used in a while); as the title would suggest, this book goes through a baby's day (rise and shine, off you go, what do you want to do today? Followed by play, messy meals, bathtime, book time, and night night), and while it once seemed full of complicated concepts, it's suddenly almost silly in its simplicity. The fun thing is, we think she really remembers this book, and delights in reading it again now. My favorite part? When we get to "would you like a bed time story?" she quickly says "no." Because, of course, a betime story means bedtime.

The latest literary phase is fun for Clio, a little annoying for mom: she's way into what I'll call the performative books. You know, the books that require the reader to sing or chant, to use silly voices, and to make athletic gestures. This is fine once. But Clio thinks these books are so much fun, she would like them read to her over and over again. The most annoying part? She often likes me to read them just as background, while she peruses another book. The best of the bunch right now are Spider on the Floor and We're Going on a Bear Hunt.


She picks one after the other constantly. Yesterday, she went over to the shelf, pulled down Bear Hunt (she knows the spine),

told me to sit down, and then said "Bear! Bear! Bear! Bear!" until I at down and read (or rather, performed) Bear Hunt (while she flipped through The Shape of Things). She waits until the very end to participate, after I've gone through tall grass, squishy mud, a snowstorm, a dark forest,etc; when the family on the Hunt finally goes into a cave, identifies one wet nose, two big furry ears, two goggly eyes... and goes on to identify that "It's a..."

Clio pipes in, and says "Bear!"

Isn't that fun?

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