Bucket of Books

I just discovered this post in my draft box from weeks ago...I often have drafts in my head of blogs to write but don't actually get to the computer. This one I started and then promptly forgot. Ironic, especially once you read it. But it's the kind of post that's the reason why I wanted to blog in the first place. To note milestones in Emily's life, especially about reading. So, even though it's old, here it is!

My husband has been keeping a "sentence a day" journal about the things Emily is doing. I got the idea from a blog I read and he decided to do it. Sometimes he writes down things I tell him she did, other times it's things he's noticed. It's a neat record of all those little things and milestones we think we'll remember but know we really won't.

One of the things I meant to blog about during the six-week-blog-drought-of-2011 happened on Oct. 26th. Emily was almost 9 months old. We keep a bucket of board books in the living room. Typically, when we read, she would sit for a couple minutes, maybe for a whole book, maybe not. Usually she grabbed for it, try to put it into her mouth. Sometimes she'd help turn pages back and forth. She had the attention span that you'd expect at her age.

This afternoon, I pulled her onto my lap to read from the bucket of books. This time, she listened to the whole thing. She helped turn the page and sometimes touched it, but didn't try to mouth it. When we were done, she leaned into the bucket and chose another to read. We read that one in the same way and she chose another.

We did this for at least 20 minutes! I could not believe it. Especially since she sat and really looked at the pages and seemed to be listening. She wasn't just picking books up to feel them or move on to the next. We cuddled for 20 minutes and read together. It was such a sweet afternoon to have with her. I knew even then that this would not happen again for a while. It was an unexpected gift.