The Strawberry Patch: BOOK WORM!!!!

Susannah reads Jez Alborough's bright, salient, almost-wordless book about a monkey searching for his mama, HUG.

If there is one thing our little girl can't live without, it's her abundant BOOK COLLECTION!!!! When left alone in her room, her activity of choice is reading books. She will sit next to her book basket and, one by one, select books and "read" them in sign language, adding a few spoken words and sound effects (primarily for animals and machines/vehicles). Upwards of 45 minutes will pass and she still has no interest in moving on...especially if the basket is not yet emptied! Perhaps the most fascinating thing is that, while being read to, Susannah won't always copy the signs we show her. Instead, she will "store" them away in that linguistic little brain of hers and use them on her own later, usually after seeing the sign only once. When I sneak in to watch her read to herself, I see her using a plethora of signs I didn't even know she had acquired!

Susannah has assigned "titles" to almost all of her books, and uses these "titles" to indicate to us which one she is looking for or wants us to read. The "titles" are based on favorite pictures or favorite parts. For example, her favorite picture in her Baby! Talk! book is the one of the babies saying, "Uh-oh!" To request this book, she will put her hand on her head and say, "Uh-oh!" while looking for the book. Karen Katz's Daddy Hugs is simply signed/said, DA-DA, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear is called, BEAR (accompanied by a growl). She alternates between wanting to look at all of the pictures and sign/talk about them, and wanting to focus in on only certain pictures. And until she finds the exact pictures she wants, she is unsatisfied...so don't interrupt her unless it is to CLEARLY offer help. Or else. (She is slowly but surely moving into full-blown toddlerhood, for all who are wondering...)

To ask for her newest favorite book, HUG, she will sign MONKEY, because the book is about a monkey looking for his mama. Once she has this particular book in hand, she wants to see all the pictures of the hippos and requests them by signing--what else?--HIPPO. She then wants to see the picture of the monkey yelling, "HUG!," followed by the picture of the monkey crying. Her face becomes so sad while she signs CRYING, but then changes to elation when the monkey's mama appears! She happily signs and says, MAMA! Soooooo amazing to see her starting to comprehend simple plots in addition to just labeling pictures. I have a feeling we're gonna have a BIG reader on our hands as the months progress. How exciting!