I like to read and I’ve been wanting to make reading with Paul a special project, so I decided to read 1000 different books with Paul before he starts kindergarten. I started last December, and I though it would be hard. 1000 book sounds like a lot! But just a few months later, we’re almost to 300. It’s so easy to add a few more picture books to the library bag when we’re there, and Paul has loved going through all the books and finding new favorites. We read most books (of those 300) more than three times before returning them to the library, and a handful each week are read more than a dozen times. He loves to read!

I’ve been taking lots of videos of Paul reading his books. Here are just two. The first is the very first one I took, back in January, when I found him, unexpectedly, emptying the library bag to read the books himself. Paul is reading an opposite book and Little Boy by Allison McGhee. That second book refers to a big box on each page, and I think I can hear Paul saying “big box.” Video taken January 25, 2010.

And then, here is my absolute favorite video. Paul is reading himself Chicka Chicka Bom Boom. He loves the pages at the beginning and end with the letters. And you’ll notice his sensitivity to others: he kisses the letters better when they get ouchies. His favorite letter is blacked-eyed P. He also loves BOOMing. Video taken about April 2, 2010.

Birds and Doggies

Signing Time does wonders. We got the “Leah’s Farm” episode from the library, and Paul just loved watching the animals in the video. Our yard has plenty of birds to watch, and every single one of our neighbors has at least one dog. Those are, by far, his favorite animals, and he loves to sign the words too.

“Birdie” looks like he’s eating his hand in this video. He also says “outside”, “cold”, and”dog” in this video.  He signs “birdie”, “dog”, “frog”, and “cold.”

Other Things

Paul loves shoes. He goes around the house picking up shoes and carrying them into the laundry room (where I put them when I tidy the room). He likes to tidy the house, including “helping” me sweep and vacuum. I hope he keeps these habits when he’s older! Shoes are his favorite item of clothing.

He also loves music and he loves to dance.

Sometimes, he goes around the house saying “Jesus” and pointing to our pictures of Jesus.

He likes babies and signs “baby” when ever we see one in the store or church. I bought him a baby doll at a garage sale, and he likes pointing to her eyes, ears, nose, toes, and mouth. She doesn’t have any hair, so that always confuses him when I tell him to point to her hair! I think Paul likes his belly button the best and likes to look for his at random times of the day. If I ask him where his ears are, he’ll come find my ears.

In this video, he’s dancing, saying “shoes,” and pointing to our family picture (looking at either daddy or the baby, which is, of course, himself).

Paul loves to say “hi” and “bye-bye” to everyone we meet. Most people ignore him, but often people come up and tell him how adorable he is, patting him on the head in the process. (That is something Ryan says he hated when he was a kid. Oh well: like father, like son!)

Paul also loves to eat, as he always has. His favorite foods are bread, milk, bananas, and tomatoes. He also likes peanut butter and jelly,  macaroni and cheese, and apple sauce. Here he is saying and signing a few more words for you while he eats a snack. Isn’t he cute?

Paul’s favorite toys are trains (there is a train table at the library and he has two engines) and cars, which he likes to make vroom all over the furniture. But his other favorite toys include an empty oatmeal container and a plastic tupperware container. He puts his matchbox cars and other small toys inside them and mixes it together with a plastic spoon from the kitchen. I think he is making soup.