apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Oooh :::squeal::: I love-love-love The Color Kittens!!! It's just the perfect little classic. I had it, my daughters have it, and I'm sure theirs will, too.

I know, right?! I would just love to paint some Color Kitten murals in his room.

My daughter is really into The Sailor Dog right now (another Golden Book classic). I HATE it. Why, of all the wonderfull books out there must we read this one OVER and OVER EVERY SINGLE NIGHT?! But, she is still into Goodnight Moon, The Poky Little Puppy and The Shy Little Kitten- so I guess it balances out.

A great one for fall is "The Little Old Woman Who Was Not Afraid of Anything," by Linda Williams. My daughter loved it last year and so did I, but these days all she wants is Curious George, over and over and over again. I cringe when she picks "Curious George Goes to the Hospital" because it's sooooo long.

one of my favorite books of all time is the "monster at the end of this book" with grover from sesame street. my dad was so dramatic and i just loved turning the pages after grover told me not to! we just bought the book for my daughter and my husband is just itching to read it to her, but she is a bit young right now. we are still at the pointing to pictures and not listening to a story phase.

Right now it is Llama Llama Red Pajama, which is a huge improvement over Clifford, which we ready every night the month before, and which was preceded by the Little Red Hen. I have to say Llama Llama will probably stay with us forever -- at the end my son even reaches down to kiss the Llama goodnight. And he really digs his "llama bear."

When did you all start reading bedtime stories to your babies? I have 1-year-old twins and I try to read to them before bed (and other times) but they just want to turn the pages themselves, eat the books, etc. Which I am fine with, but I am just curious if other 1-year-olds like to be read to. Thanks!

My son is four now, and for the past year one of his solid favorites has been Rikki Tikki Tavi, the Rudyard Kipling story about the mongoose who protects an English family's garden in India. We have the edition illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, so the pictures are lovely, and the text is barely edited from the original. Some kids might find it a bit scary -- Nag, the king cobra -- but Quinn loves it so much he's practically memorized the whole thing.

My son is 16 months and has very little interest in being read to...

my daughter is 17 months and could care less about being read to, but loves looking at books! we point to pictures and find things. we have the "i am a bunny" book by richard scary and we point to the bunny on each pages and find the frogs and squirrels and birds. we also look at a lot of picture books and she loves learning words to pictures of things she sees everyday like bananas for breakfast or milk. she also loves to find someone's eyes, mouth, nose, etc on the people in the pictures. one day she will care about the story!

My son is 14 mos, and every once and awhile climbs to sit on my lap so I can read to him before we go to bed. We always end with "Time for Bed", it's a short pop up book that he LOVES. My aunt was a reading recovery teacher, and told me that reading to your child for aprox 15 mins a day (starting at birth), will expose them to some 10,000 words before they reach school. They are that far ahead of children who were never read to. Most babies are interested in anything and everything in the room, EXCEPT for sitting quietly and reading, but if you continue to read, they will absorb it. Reduce the other background noise, the radio or tv, and it's the same as if they are sitting nicely in your lap.