"Give a Hoot...Read a Book"

There was a time well before the twins’ arrival when I would sit and read to Abbie for most of her wake time. I had books with all of their covers and flaps intact piled next to me. With Abbie in my lap, she’d flip through the pages, and I’d read the words and point to the important parts like the page’s featured number or that glop of dried spit-up that she found so fascinating. When each book was done, I’d carefully set it to the side to preserve it for future readings, and pluck the next book off the pile. These sessions provided many benefits: It was a daddy-daughter bonding session, visual stimulation, and a foundation in language that I swear is going to pay off any day now. Mostly I read to her a lot to keep her quiet because reading was one of the few activities she deemed acceptable entertainment, especially once the weather cooled too much to go outside and stare at trees.

Today I still read to Abbie often, as most of our indoor, non-food interactions involve a book. The difference is I don’t interact with her nearly as much since she can thankfully entertain herself to a degree. Usually I take care of other things and people around the house, and as long as she’s not destroying anything and neither she nor the pets are screaming, I let her do her thing without interfering. Usually our reading sessions occur when I’m trapped on the floor feeding or playing with the boys, or during the special pre-sleep time that I still reserve for books.

When the twins were born, I thought we’d spend our days chained to the book basket, reading an endless stream of books to keep everyone content while I internally screamed for a respite from reading about the red fox. I assumed all babies were like Abbie in that reading was by far their favorite non-eating activity.

Now that the twins are here, I rarely read to them. I formally hold one of them in my lap and read a book exclusively to him only once per day. The rest of the time they read by osmosis as Abbie controls the book, I describe the pages, and the boys do their own thing that generally involves chewing on something while they may or may not pay attention to us.

It’s not that the twins dislike reading; they’re just indifferent to it. Ian especially doesn’t seem to understand what the big deal is. During our formal reading sessions, he’s usually looking around the room, watching the activity around him, and occasionally turning his attention to the book when a page dangles close enough for him to stuff in his mouth. Tory seems to get a little more when we read as he’ll smack the pictures and occasionally vocalize, possibly wondering why that frog didn’t do anything when he hit it. Plus he seems to have a rudimentary grasp on the concept of turning pages.*

Since the boys are usually as happy playing on the floor as they are being read to, I don’t think to read to them much. Mostly I just hold them or find a toy to dangle within grasping range. That’s just fine with Abbie since she usually just peels their hands off the pages when a brother tries touching her books anyway.

* That and his tooth give him two things he can do before his brother.