Dear Reader,
Happy Read Across America Day! Or, happy birthday to Dr Seuss, if you’d rather. In honor of Dr Seuss’ birthday, I wanted to share a great accomplishment we just reached at our house! My preschooler has reached her goal of reading 1000 books! And my toddlers are at 500.
Okay, they can’t read. But they can listen. And they do!
I kinda just said, yeah, sure when the library offered the program, thinking it was a good way to dedicate snuggle time to my then-toddler while her twin sisters were still tiny (read: super time-consuming and attention-needing). They helped me download the Beanstack app and signed me up for the challenge linked to their library (I know a lot of libraries all over the US use the app, check with your library!), and that allowed us to start earning prizes. So far we have earned games, book bags, shirts, simple crafts, and a handprint on the library wall!
My toddlers don’t really care about the prizes, but they love the trips to the library. And they love books! I guess that’s the real benefit to the challenge. To have such a love of books at a young age is amazing. And my preschooler is already listening to chapter books at night. The kid that never.sits.still will curl up in my lap and sit for a solid 20-30 minutes and listen to intermediate-level chapters! It’s her favorite part of the night. Story time has slowly gotten longer and longer, and honestly, even though it takes more of my time, I love it, too.
I hope, in honor of Dr Seuss, you pick up a book today. And I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And if you don’t… You’re reading the wrong books!
