The Bookworm Strikes… All Over Again!
Yes, it’s happened! And I’m that proud mommy today who can very proudly say that even though I take the utmost pride in the fact that I’m a born book-worm, my daughter, who is all of 5, has reached that magic phase in her life when she is confidently reading her way through the many books that she has!
And trust me, if there is anyone else who is happier than me, it’s my own ma (of course hubby dear too, but the main credit, more than anyone else for planting this seed of creating a book-worm goes to my mother dearest – I will share that story in a later post).
Given the fact that I can never live without a book around me, so much so that even if I am going to the mall for a while, there are always a couple of books in my tote (you never know when you have to sit on your own and that’s when you need a book, right??!), it was always kind of assumed that my daughter would inherit the germ right away.
The first time she showed interest in books was when she was about 4 or 5 months old. I remember we had picked out a stack of the hard-bound baby books that come in bright shapes and colours and have lots of big pictures in them. The first time I held up a book to her, she was still far from being able to sit up, but as she saw the images unfold in front of her eyes, I remember those tiny hands reaching out to try and grab the book, and as soon as she figured out the concept of turning a page, there was no stopping. She would turn page after page, devouring the colours and the pictures and shapes and alphabets in hungry gulps, and as she reached the end of the book, the process would start again.
I remember the many moments we spent sitting together, huddled over alphabet books, going through the brightly coloured alphabets and the pictures, and by the time she was a few months past her first year, I think about 14 months or so, she could easily recognise all 26 letters of the English alphabet. By the time she reached her second birthday, she was well into collecting her own books and reaching out to touch the ones that I had displayed on my bookshelves.
As a mother and daughter team, my daughter and I have spent many hours at the bookstores in the malls, sitting down on the cosy rug and leafing through books, forgetting everyone and everything else around us and engrossed completely in our books. She would pick out books after books and I would read them to her (somehow, I do not encourage myself to pick up a book off the shelf and start reading, as then I invariably have to buy and bring it back home, you see, the moment I start liking the characters, they become mine, and then I just can’t abandon them!).
My hubby deserves due credit too. Every night, unless he is out-of-town, he will lie down beside her at bedtime and read her stories. It’s a daily bedtime ritual.
So finally, that stage has come when my daughter has turned from a voracious book lover to a voracious new reader, and it’s quite fun for me to see her enjoy the feeling of being able to read herself. That tell-tale stage has also come where she has started sitting at the dining table with 2-3 books in hand, and quite weirdly and yet interestingly, I can picture myself sitting at home with my parents and brother, reading a book while taking bites in between, even as my ma would urge me to stop and eat. Really, it’s my childhood being played all over again, and honestly I’m loving every moment of it! As a mum, today is a proud day!
Debolina Raja Gupta loves being a mommy and best friend to her 5-year old princess. A working mom, voracious reader, social activist, photographer, poet, travel freak, beauty writer and an everything-of-sorts. Best fun is story time and our fashionista time together. My blogs: The Book Worm, A Few Thoughts Here And There, My Little One And Me, Beauty Makeup And More.