Today on Growing Up with Books – Baby’s First Books: A baby discovers her first favorites. Join her as she reads a picture book about other babies, opens flaps in a flap book about body parts and explores sounds and texture during playtime.
Welcome, friend. In this very first post of Growing Up with Books, I’m excited to share three books that kickstarted our reading together. Long before Serai arrived, I wondered what kinds of books she might love. Her books are now an important part of my home library, and it is a pleasure to chronicle this journey of hers. Thank you for being here.
The Bedtime book: I Love You All the Time by Lovevery
Every time my daughter is by her bookshelf, she picks I Love You All the Time. It’s the first book she pulls out, whether it’s on the bottom shelf or the middle. Sometimes it’s the only book she wants. I think she enjoys the photos of the various babies and their expressions.
At around 8 months, we read it at bedtime every night. I always gave her the option to choose between two books if she doesn’t choose one from her shelf herself and 80% of the time, she wants I love you all the time.
I love this book because it lets me tell her I love her over and over again, not that I needed any encouragement. It rhymes. It’s goofy. It’s fun. Sometimes, I’ll read it and make the facial expressions the babies are making. Sometimes, I’ll give her a kiss each time we get to “I love you all the time”.
This book shows me the many moods of my baby. I recognize joy, shyness, frustration, all the feels of my little human being. I love being reminded that I love her through them all, even if I’m at my rope’s end sometimes.
We got this as part of our Lovevery subscription. I don’t know if this book is available for purchase individually.
The Day Book: Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book by Karen Katz
This one we enjoy during the day. It’s interactive and short. Around 10 months of age, my daughter started to reach for this book herself.
Its flap style lets her play peekaboo while practicing dexterity. She often babbles at the pages and opens and closes the book many times. The last page is a baby hiding behind a blanket and she loves that one!
The pictures are bright and contrasting and show babies playing, taking a bath, drinking water… all everyday things she does too. I’m excited for her to start to associate her everyday with what’s shown in this book.
When we read this together, I’ll point to her eyes, hands, feet, and other parts depending on the page. The belly button is always the cutest because it’s an opportunity to tickle!! At 10 months, she was fascinated by my belly button and just discovering her own.
The Self-Exploration Book: See, Touch, Feel: A First Sensory Book by Roger Priddy
At about 11 months of age, I added this book to my daughter’s play area. It had been a slow couple weeks with books and this one offered renewed interest!
The different textures on the pages, opportunities to make sounds, and see big images keep her attention. It was a big book compared to her little form and I often found her sitting on it to enjoy the page across. Adorable!
This is the book she beat up without her using teeth. Babies are hard on their favorites, partly because they return to them so many times. 🙂
To be a witness to a little person’s journey into books is life’s most beautiful pleasure. At one year old, Serai is already expanding in the variety of books she reaches for. I can’t wait to see where her reading life takes her next.
Thank you for joining me on Baby’s First Books. Read more in the next Growing Up with Books.
If you are curious about how I am approaching building her reading experience and library, take a read of this article: Curating a Library for a Young One.
Keywords: Baby’s First Books, Babies, Books for Babies, Flap Books, Books about Babies, Playtime Books
What a beautiful idea/post, Kriti. And Serai is so lucky to have a mother who is committed to actively and thoughtfully supporting her reading journey.
Like you, I loved reading books about love to my daughter as a baby. One of her favourites – we still mention it from time to time, 20 years on – is ‘No Matter What’ by Deb Gliori. You may well have come across it. Her favourite lift-the-flap book is was the classic ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell.
I still gift parents to be with a recommended reading list 😊
Wishing you and Serai many years of reading pleasure together, Angela
Thank you Angela!! I just got her Dear Zoo and have added No Matter What to my list. Excited to get more recommendations from you. 🙂