Book of the Month: I Wrote to The Zoo

In the past couple of months Dominic's language skills have grown exponentially! It is exciting to hear him say new words or put 2 or 3 words together. He is excited to see our reaction too. A new word he has started saying recently is 'chocolate'. I think he is starting to realize that he won't get chocolate every time he says it. Hahaha. Other new words are 'pray' and 'amen'. It is so sweet hearing him ask to pray and then say amen when the prayer ends. Makes those challenging days of "toddler testing" worthwhile.

I know that reading has helped him develop his language skills and I love that he loves to read. We read books at least 20 times a day and often the same book multiple times in a row. This is typical for toddlers and will support language development and story & word recognition.

This month's 'book of the month' is, "I Wrote to the Zoo". It was actually a gift for Elisabeth but Nico quickly claimed it as his. I tell him that Ellie is sharing with him.

This is really one of the cutest books with cute animal illustrations. This book, like other lift the flap books, promotes child participation. After a few times of reading it, I will have Nico say what animal it is and then repeat it after. Some animals he can say by name, like snake, frog and dog. Others he says part of the name, like 'raff' for giraffe. Others he will do sound effects or gestures, like the monkey - which is funny.

I also like how this book uses simple words to describe each animal too which helps with building comprehension skills.

Other lift the flap books that Dominic loves are, "Zoom Zoom Baby" which we got for free for signing up for his library card and "Where's Spot". These books also have different animals behind each flap.

It's funny seeing Dominic take things from one book and add it to the others. For example, at the end of "Zoom Zoom Baby", it says "bye bye". When finishing "Where's Spot" and "I Wrote to the Zoo", he will say "bye bye".

While reading, "Where's Spot" he started saying "no" when lifting each flap until he got to Spot at the end (except that sometimes he does call the turtle Spot .. Haha ... if you read the book, you will understand why), he will do that with the other two books as well. Although, he is starting to develop a sense of humour. Today, while reading "Where's Spot", he started saying "yes" to each flap he lifted and then would start laughing. He also likes to put things where they don't belong and then look at me and say "noooooo". For example, putting a toy in the fridge.

What has your child, or a child you have cared for, learned from a lift the flap book?