Moo, Ba, La La La ... ahhhhhhh

I believe I posted in her 12 month post that Kayla has a new relationship with books. She used to just like to take them out of the drawer or off the shelf and eat them. She even had a favorite that apparently tasted better than any of the others. Well, things have changed (of course!)

Instead of taking them out of the drawer and dropping them on the floor, she now will throw them, or if they are small enough she will throw them over her shoulder. Picture the cartoon where someone's bent over a container rummaging through it and just throwing everything out - it's a miniature version of that. As bad a habit as this is, I think it's really funny so as long as she's not hurting anyone or anything I'm not trying to stop it. She does the same thing with her blocks - she likes to throw things now and if that entertains her then so be it. She's not throwing things at people so for now it's okay.

On to cuter things - she will now hand you books. And by "hand you" I mean, crawl or walk over to you with a book, find your hand, open your palm, and put the book in your hand. This is your cue to read it. Sometimes she'll sit in front of you once you have the book so you can read it to her. Other times she'll crawl up into your lap, wiggle around to get comfy, and sit back and turn the pages while you read. You may or may not have enough time to actually read the story on the pages depending on her mood - I've definitely made up my share of stories as she quickly flips the pages. Board books are obviously easier but if you get the page ready in the regular books she can manage to turn the page.

Now, for the annoying part. She, like every other toddler, has favorite books that she will hand to you repeatedly. And by repeatedly I mean like 10+ times in a row, no kidding. Right now it's Moo, Ba, La La La - a Sandra Boynton book. (It goes like this. Moo says the cow. The sheep say Ba. Three singing pigs say La La La. No, you say. That's not right. The pigs say Oink all day and night. Quack says the Duck. A horse says Neigh. It's quiet now, what do you say? written from memory!) I was told to purchase this for her when she started babbling. Well, I gave it to her for her birthday and it's definitely a favorite, not that she tries to make any of the sounds. Eric actually hid it this evening b/c he was tired of reading it. I don't blame him. We also received Barnyard Dance and Birthday Monsters from the same author for her birthday but she doesn't seem as interested in those. Other favorites - Baby Farm Animals - a golden book, Shake Your Rattle although I really like that one too, the ABC book, and sometimes Pinkalicious. Mainly Just Moo and Farm Animals. She has 80,000 books but she likes these 5. I make sure she gets various books read to her at night though and we tend to go through all of the ones downstairs every weekend so she's not hearing the same thing over and over and over again - even if it seems that way to us.

A friend of mine told me that she will read the book to her 2 year old boy once and then he takes it and flips through it on his own in his own spot. Those times will certainly be nice, but for now I'm enjoying her crawling into my lap to read her a story. Super sweet! Much better than all the fits she's been having lately. And I'm glad to know that maybe we've started her on the path to liking reading like me - it's a good habit to have.