Picky Reader

My husband and I read a lot to our son, Aiden.  He is 16 months old.  He loves books.  He walks around with them.  He opens them, points to things, and talks to the books.  He has several of his board books with worn out edges and corners because he liked to chew on them.  No matter how many times we took the book away and showed him how to use it correctly, the book always ended up back in his mouth.  I think he has outgrown that now.

We always read at least 3 books a day – one before his morning nap, one before his afternoon nap, and one before bedtime.  Recently, Aiden has been asking to read certain books.  He points to the shelf where the book is located and talks until I pick him up and let him get the book.  For the past week, he has requested to read his photobook nearly every night.  I made this photobook on Shutterfly with pictures of him from birth to 5 months.  He adores looking at himself as a tiny baby.  It is too cute to watch him.

His libary books are in the top drawer of his dresser so they don’t get mixed in with his books.  Last night I had chosen a book from the shelf and we sat down in the rocking chair to read it.  Aiden squirmed and vocalized his displeasure with my choice of book.  He got down from the chair, walked to the dresser, reached up both his hands, and began to babble.  It took me a moment to realize what he wanted.  I picked him up and opened the dresser drawer.  We looked through the library books, but he didn’t find the one he wanted to read.  He wanted his Skippyjon Jones 123 board book.  We walked into the living room and found it.  He lit up with excitement.  We took it back to the rocking chair, settled in, and read the book several times.