[blparent] Reading to kids

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

I was fortunate since I didn't lose my vision until I was 22, and by
this, I mean I could go to the public library and pick up any book.
Hopefully blind kids will one day know this luxury.  I grew up reading,
and my mom always took us kids and we'd spend hours at the library.  As
I grew older, I went on my own, and to this day, I always have a book
I'm in the process of reading.  I even received my degree in creative
writing.  My brother likes to read, but both my sisters aren't big
readers.  Not sure why.  My husband is a huge reader, and his entire
immediate family are as well.  Funny how these things develop.

We've read to Penny since she was little.  Most the books we have for
her are in Braille so my husband and I can both read to her.  Her
favorite right now is Goodnight Moon.  We both have had a little problem
since she tries to touch the Braille when reading along.  Ross, my
husband, was trying to read it just the other day, but kept stopping
because she would touch the Braille mimicking him, but then she got
upset if he stopped.

Penny is just 20-months-old, but she's been picking books up since as
long as I can remember.  At least now she no longer tries eating them
after she's done reading them!  LOL

She'll pick up a book and sit and just flip through it.  She
jibber-jabbers like she's really reading.  She has quite a vocabulary
now so she'll say all the words she knows like it is a sentence.
"Bubble, dog-dog, mama, boom, hello, good-bye," it goes on and on like
this!  LOL

A couple of weeks ago, she gave my husband a book then she grabbed a
book and sat next to him.  She proceeded to read, using her finger,
while talking out loud.  The book she handed him didn't have Braille in
it, and he wasn't reading the way you do with Braille, obviously,  so
she got upset and put his finger on the page.  She's quite the mimic!

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog for Live Well Nebraska.com at
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/