Story Time

It is amazing what your child will learn during story time.  We always have some sort of story time with our daughter and both of us do parts of it.  There are four different types of daily story time in our home.  I'll try to explain them here and what they mean to us.

1) Snuggle Time Can be with either Mommy or Daddy.  This is story time where anyone can pick the books, but usually our daughter does and she sits with the reader.  Usually this happens at bedtime with my husband reading or during quiet time after school with me.  Often when bedtime story occurs I will sneak into my daughter's bedroom to listen.  My husband really makes the stories come alive with different voices. Snuggle time with me has been know to happen in the car, at a restuaren or at the Doctor's office while waiting.  Almost everywhere we go we have books with us to helpp make the wait seem shorter.

2) Tell Me A Story These are occasions when my daughter wants to hear about something she has done, usually with one or both of us.  These stories are retold on the fly often in the bathroom and can cover anything form how we became her parents to her most recent class trip where I tagged along.  Early on we tried to use different characters and tell the stories in the third person but I kept changing the names back to Rachel so we don't bother anymore.  Our daughter loves these stories and we probably should write them down, but I doubt that will happen so my daughter will have to rely on her electronic scrapbook as she gets older.

3) I Read To You This story time is the most fun.  My daughter picks a book or books and read them to one of us or her toys.  She may not read the words but she is really familiar with stories so she reads the pictures and is often really close to the written story.  I find it very creative on her part and lots of fun even when I'm eavesdropping on a story being told to the stuffed animals.

4) Private Reading This is when someone in the house can be found reading to themselves.  My husband and I feel it is extremely important that our daughter "catches" us reading with hopes that it will encourage her to do the same.  This seems to be working and often when I go looking for her when she's being very quiet I'll find her in her room reading a book or 12.