Book of the Month: That's Not My Puppy

For the year 2020, this blog will feature a book of the month. Most likely each month will feature young children's books because that is mostly what I read these days.

Dominic loves being read to and looking through his books! The last few months he has wanted to pick out what book we read before bed. When I was pregnant with Dominic, Kyle and I would read to him and now when I read to Dominic, I am also reading to our new little baby growing inside of me.

The importance of reading to your baby really does start before they are born! Around 18 weeks of pregnancy baby's hearing starts to develop and they will soon recognize your voice and other voices they hear often. Reading, singing and talking to your unborn baby helps to start the bonding process. Current research has also shown that reading to your baby in the womb promotes brain activity and can promote early literacy skills and language development. This continues after they are born too! 

At a time when our world is becoming increasingly digital and e-books are gaining in popularity, young children still seem to prefer print books. I personally love snuggling up with my little boy and reading a print book to him. It allows an opportunity for us to interact and talk about pictures as well as reading and pointing to words. Having him hold books and turn pages also helps him in developing fine motor skills and learn about different textures. 

Reading to both of my babies

January's book of the month is all about textures! The Usborne touch and feel Books, written and illustrated by Fiona Watt,  are all about recognizing different textures such as bumpy, fuzzy and squishy. They have quite a few different, "That's Not My __________" in their series. Dominic got the "That's Not My Puppy" book for Christmas from one of his aunties. He was so excited when he opened it and right away started feeling all of the different textures as he turned each page. He seemed familiar with these types of books so I started wondering if his daycare had them. Sure enough, I went to pick him up from Daycare a few days later and he ran over to show me some of the other touch and feel books in this usborne series. It was a proud Mommy moment seeing how he recognized the relationship between his puppy book and the other books at daycare. 

With Chinese New Year celebrations happening this week, I also thought it appropriate to choose this book for January's book of the month because Dominic was born the year of the dog. This is fitting for him because he loves dogs! We don't have a dog but he loves seeing dogs when we go for walks and visit people who have dogs; although he sometimes gets startled if they come too close to him too quick.  

"That's Not My Puppy" is ideal for ages newborn to toddler and helps to build sensory awareness, language development and recognizing differences between different types of dogs and textures. 


Do you have any, "That's Not My" books? What are your thoughts on reading them and how your child interacts with them?