What Goes in the Mouth, Goes in the Brain

"What goes in the mouth, goes in the brain." That's what the facilitator of our new parent group at the hospital used to tell us about everything that babies put in their mouths, including books. With more nerve endings on their tongues than anywhere else on the body, "tasting" objects is how babies explore their world. It wasn't until very recently, though, that Oliver did more than try to eat his books.

Reading to Oliver has taken many forms. Not until I had a newborn did I realize that sitting them in your laps and reading them a book, like you would a small child, doesn't really work out that well since a newborn is a) most likely sleeping or crying to be fed b) can't hold its head up to look at a book c) can't even see more than a foot in front of its face anyway. I discovered the board books with the black and white images - the contrast of the two being what babies under three months old see the best - and as Oliver would lay on the ground, I'd hold the book in front of his face and describe the pictures. It was fun to see him connecting with the images on the page, but it wasn't very exciting describing the same wordless pages over and over again.

As soon as Oliver could hold his head up steadily and sit in my lap, I could finally read him a book in the more traditional sense, but that was short-lived, because then he started grabbing at the pages. Any books that were not board books were stored on a shelf out of his reach. He'll get those back when he can learn not to tear pages.

After months of narrating picture books, I bought Oliver new board books with an actual story line. I was so bored of trying to create a story line out of a picture of a black dog or a kite or a leaf against a white background. Well, Oliver had discovered how exciting it was to turn pages, so I either read books in fast forward as Oliver turned the pages faster than I could read them, or I just skipped whole sections of the book. Eventually he'd just want to turn the pages and lost interest when I actually tried to read the book. I'd get three pages in and he'd crawl out of my lap and move onto something else.

During the period when he had really zero interest in having a story read to him, his favorite activities involving books included either pulling them off shelves or pulling himself up on the coffee table and sliding his books one by one off the table and onto the floor.

Then a few days ago, we were having quiet playtime in Oliver's room before bed and, as usual, he pulled all his books off his shelf. But then he threw one at my feet and let out a grunt, as if to say "Read!" (He treats toys and balls indiscriminately - he likes to fling both at the floor.)

"Do you want me to read this book to you?" I asked.

He looked at me expectantly, so I read him the book and he sat and looked at the pages, and yes, wanted to turn the pages, but we read the whole book! He then threw another one at me and I read that one. And then a third time. I think he's starting to get it! He shows an interest in a book and knows that if he "asks" (we'll work on handing books instead of throwing them later) someone will read it to him.

Oliver is still into manhandling his books, and I let him interact with them in whatever way he wants. Sometimes he'll be sitting amidst a pile of books and he'll page through one of them by himself, either flipping one page back and forth, back or forth, fingering the different textures on a page, or opening and closing one of the flaps on a flip-the-flap book (his favorites right now). But if he "hands" a book to me, I always ask him if he wants to read it and then pull him into my lap so we can read together. It's exciting to see that what's gone in the mouth might finally be processing in the brain.