reading to / with a spirited lo

[Deb_in_oz]

this is not a major issue, but looking for any experiences you can share

olivia is not comfortable sitting on my lap reading books  :cry: she is just too active for that and needs to control everything / be independent.  as soon as she sees a book she wants to grab it, touch it, play with it - anythign except sit and look at the pictures while i read.

by this age we were reading 2-3 books before each nap and bedtime with alex.  she also liked to grab and touch, but mostly loved being read to ad looking att the illustrations / touching the textured books, etc.  we still read so many books a day with her and i am sure it is why her vocabulary / comprehension is so large.

i figure as long as i keep reading stories to her (while she plays  :roll: ) she is being exposed to rhythmic language / varied vocabulary, but it is not the same.  any tips.  currently i read to the girls together so i will usually end up giving olivia a different book to play with on the floor while i sit and read with alex

[amheusser]

My 2 are the same way, but recently R has started bringing us books to listen to a few pages.  She still won't sit through a whole book. I usually just let her stand up and listen, and when she walks away I stop. 

I know she's surrounded by books all the time, and hears me read to Katie a lot, so she's getting some of that but just not interested on her own yet.  Hopefully just continuing to show the example will eventually get her attention....

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Yep, we're going through the same stage here.  In fact Nathan (textbook) and Danielle (angel) were/are both grabby at 8mths.  Nathan really only started to like books read to him when he turned around 2.  He absolutely has always adored books though, but just not the patience to sit still and let us read (I was able to speed read a page with 2 lines of writing only until age 2), so we did a lot of talking about the pages and moved on when he was looking bored.  With Danielle, book reading gets abandoned pretty quickly or the pages are held out further and she's busy looking at other things - but she's also surrounded by books, so I imagine she will be the same as Nathan.

[ChasMom]

I can relate.  I can't get my 8 month old spirited son to sit still for more than a page before he's grabbing for the book and trying to suck or chew on it!  And he's getting to that stage where if I try to hold it away or don't give it to him, he pitches a fit :roll: (gosh, I'm afraid of what's to come with the terrible 2's).  It makes me sad that we haven't been able to do this because I love to read and always pictured myself reading to my baby.  But for now I just keep trying whenever he seems slightly interested and I also give him board books to play with which occasionally I'll find him peeking at the pictures while he's gnawing on them .