The Baby Book Nook

The Nursery Collection is a 91-page hardcover filled with traditional nursery rhymes, stor ies, and poems gathered by English author/illustrator Helen Oxenbury. "Hardcover books for babies?" you ask. Yes! They make great reading for very young babies who are too young to grab at sharp corners. They'll listen more than look, and look at you more than at the book.  L ook back. My favorite pages hold the "Verses from TINY TIM." The collected poems are rhythmic, rhyming and playful - perfect read-aloud for new babes in arms. Take for example ‘MICE,’ by Rose Amy Fyleman, below.   MICE I think mice Are rather nice. Their tails are long Their faces small. They haven’t any chins at all. Their ears are pink, Their teeth are white, They run about The house at night. They nibble things They shouldn’t touch And no one seems To like them much. But I think mice Are rather nice.

At about 15 months of age, babies start talking. By 20 months, they have a spoken vocabulary of about 50 words. By 24, about 200. Typical first words are object nouns such as ball, cup, mama, dada , and duck. My son's first word was truck. He was a commuter baby... Zoom, zoom, zoom. All along, babies understand more words than they say. All along, they're listening. Studies say that a child’s preschool vocabulary predicts early elementary school reading ability. Likewise, the number and variety of words that a child hears as a baby and toddler (or the quantity and diversity of ‘mom talk’) predicts vocabulary development. Lay a literacy foundation: start talking. Morning time. Wake up! Scoop up baby. Nursing? Start a one-sided conversation. Make eye contact and ask a question, any question. What are we going to do today ? Pause and answer. You are teaching conversational rhythm . Changing a diaper? Recite a rhyme. "This Little Piggy." Dressing your tike ? Snap, ...