A-bug's Favorite Bedtime Books

If you have followed this blog any length of time, you will know that since birth, Aria has loved books. She loves the pictures, she loves being read to, she likes reading to her Elmo and Abbie dolls, and she loves making up stories to go with the pictures in her books. Some of the best memories I have are of listening to Aria over the monitor reading to herself and her animals. I can tell what books she's reading now by the words she says, and I love it. 

Getting A calmed down for bedtime is sometimes easier said than done, and reading these books helps calm her down and signals to her that bedtime is near. She gets quieter and sometimes we even get some snuggles for a few minutes while we're reading to her. Then, right before bed, J takes her to her room, turns on her sound machine and sings "Jesus Loves Me" to her... now she'll sing with him, which is just too sweet.

How do you signal to your kids that it's time for bed? Do you have a routine that you do nightly? 

Here are some of her favorite " bedtime bookies" and the words she knows from them. 

She actually can say "I love you to and to" and knows almost all the words just by seeing the page. It's a favorite of hers, and I love reading it to her.

She calls this one "much love you!" and usually makes up a story about the rabbits dancing and jumping and always throws something in there about the moon at the end, right on cue with the most famous line "I love you to the moon...and back."

I read her this one just about every night and many times right before nap time. She knows most of the key words like "mouse," "cow over moon," "hush" etc. As I read it to her, I get quieter and quieter, which is kind of a signal to her that bed is coming.

She adores this book about all the different things that everyone loves. And the rhymes always end, "Elmo loves you!" and she'll finish it with me. And she always gives Elmo a kiss at the end of the book, just like he asks for :)

I think the reason she loves this book so much is because it has the word "cookie" in it so many times :) She knows "mouse" and "nap" and at the end she always says "share with friend."

This one's self-explanatory. We have a lot of ABC style books, but this one is her favorite with all the flaps and the different animals. She always sings the alphabet song when she gets to the end, too, which is adorable :)

For the Love of Reading

I have to say, one of the things that delights my heart the most with Aria is her love of reading. I pray all the time that it will continue, and that it's not just the page-turning she's into (even though it sometimes feels like that's the whole pull for her.) At night, Josh usually reads some Dr. Seuss with her, I read her favorite books to her throughout the day, and she reads to her babies and us. She gets incredibly animated at times, and other times she simply flips through the pages. My favorite is when she comes across those books with a mirror at the end; she leans over and kisses herself and/or waves. It's very cute, although I don't think I'm going to foster the type of behavior that causes her to kiss herself in the mirror. All in good time, though.