Story Time

I thought I would share a little bit of useless information...Lily, being the clever girl she is, can blow her nose. I could scarcely believe it when I put a tissue to her nose the other day and said “blow”. She did exactly that! She blew her nose like a very big girl. I still struggle with Byron when it comes to blowing his nose. He just doesn’t seem to have the knack. Lily on the other hand is an old hat; it’s like she has been doing it forever!

There is one thing Lily isn’t too good at and that is reading books. Not reading in the literal sense of course because she is far too young for that. I’m talking about listening and relaxing whilst mummy reads a story. I have tried on many occasions to read books to her, so much so that I have lost count. But alas, she won’t have a bar of it. One page through the book (any kind of book) and she is off. She just doesn’t seem to be interested at all.

Her kindy carer advised me a few weeks ago that Lily doesn’t have the greatest attention span (she was speaking in consideration of her age). She doesn’t like to focus on things for very long periods, and this includes story time. I know she is young and I am not expecting her to sit back whilst I read countless chapters of Harry Potter. I’m thinking more along the lines of say ‘Spot’. Byron was a lover of books and still is. I could read 10 stories to him when he was around Lily’s age and he would be content to listen to 20 more.

I have wondered if Lily’s lack of interest in books is the result of my time poor lifestyle and the fact I didn’t read many books to her when she was a young baby like I did with Byron. I guess that’s the thing with the first born – it seems you have all the time in the world to do all that fun stuff. For me, it was a case of trying to continue with the routine of reading books with Byron that Lily kinda feel out of the mix. Being a little baby, she wasn’t ‘interested’ in the kind of stories I would be reading with Byron. We generally do (behaviour permitting) stories with Byron before bed but sadly, and I’m embarrassed to say, Lily doesn’t fair in that experience. Every time we have tired, she has mucked around, crawled off and shown no interest at all that it has become distractive for Byron, so we gave up.

Maybe that’s why she just doesn’t seem to like books – there wasn’t enough exposure!?? *bows head in disgrace*

I’m going to make more of a concerted effort with books and Lily. I know there is nothing more frustrating then trying to read a story to a child that is hardly interested in a word you have to say but nevertheless I will persevere and see how it goes. I thought I might try reading her a story while she has her bottle at night – when things are calm.

Tomorrow night, I think I’ll try 'Spot' with the hope that one day she might enjoy the reading experience of 'Where is the Green Sheep', Byron’s most treasured toddler story (and secretly one of mine).