Baby books and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (movie)

How's it going?

To start with, thank you so much for all the views yesterday :) *GIANT HUG* Views from US, Russia, and France? Thanks guys!!! I hope I can entertain  you for another day :)

I really like to write so this is super fun for me. Hope you like what I have to say :)

Today's post is kinda longish but its one of my favorite subjects.  I did warn that I am a bibliophile.  I do not know if all posts will be this long.

Today I thought I'd share some of my son's favorite books.  He is only four months old, but he's already got a sense of what he likes.  We read every day.  I was read to as a child and have a lifelong love of the printed word so I am hoping my baby grows up loving books as well.

Reading books is beneficial from day one.( http://www.babycenter.com/0_reading-to-your-baby_368.bc)

Baby books are crazy expensive. I love thrift stores and yard sales. I highly suggest that you look for baby books in these places. I picked up four lift the flap Winnie the Pooh books that retail for 6.99 for .60 each at a thrift shop.  I also shop at Wal*Mart (don't hate).  The bargain books section of Barnes and Noble is hit or miss so its not my favorite.  Libraries are free and are great. Children's librarians are amazing people because they not only love books, but love children and have endless amounts of patience.

Babies like to look at faces.  They will study your face. They also will study their own face. Faces are so fascinating to a baby.

Two books that we read on a fairly regular basis are

Baby Panda and I can't remember the name of the Fisher Price book. We call it the Monkey Book.

Baby Panda is the scariest book ever written. It is about baby panda ans his nightmarish high contrast color world, but it has a gigantic mirror in it.

The way we now read Baby Panda is to flip directly to the fourth and last page which is where the mirror is. We have spent hours staring into the mirror studying my son's face. He loves watching himself smile and giggle. He also likes to blow spit bubbles at the baby/panda hybrid.

The Monkey Book is a perennial favorite in our house. Having no words, its a different book every time it is read. Imagination is a terrific thing and you and your little one will never be bored if you have it. The mirror isn't as big as in Baby Panda but it is still fun to look in. We love asking the baby how the same baby from the panda book showed up in the jungle.

The Monkey Book is also a favorite because it has a chew toy which taught baby that books are delicious. This was the very first toy/book he ever grabbed. It is also the first toy he shoved in his mouth!

The Monkey Book is a big hit because it has another thing babies love. Babies love to explore their world. One of the things babies learn at a few months is object permanence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence)

Peek a boo is a fun way to encourage learning object performance. Babies also love looking behind, and under things. Lift the flap books are also good for this. 

We also really like 

Where's my Puppy? Very vibrant colors and the flaps are huge.  There is so much to see here. Babies like bright vivid colors.  He giggles when this is read.

  I normally don't like Elmo, but we have these as well.Not a big hit yet, but some baby books get old fast,and you won't read to the baby if the book bores you. What makes these books fun is you add sound effects.  Babies like hearing your full vocal range, so these are great.

Speaking of vibrant color, this book has it in spades. Bonus, it was only two dollars at walmart which is a huge 

bargain for a baby book.

Babies also like textures.  I found this amazing book at a store called Five Below. They are a chain, but I don't
know where other than Rhode Island they are located.

Nursery rhymes are the best. It is also super hard to remember what they are at 2 am.  Anthologies are also great
because instead of having a million little books, you can have everything in one big book. The Ladybird
book of Rhymes is a gift to me from Great Aunt in Wales, so I don't know if they are still available, but
I have always loved the illustrations. The Big Little Book For Mom's has a bookmark, and super cute illustrations.

Last, but not least, everyone has nicknames for their children. I have no idea how it came about,
but we started calling the baby Monkey Boy.  We were in downtown Providence and decided to go the Brown 
University Bookstore.

It was like it was meant for us! I love the colors and since my son is used to being called monkey boy he 
giggled the whole time I read it :). It was a perfect bonding experience. 

What books do you read to your children? What children's book do you like? Do you read to your children? If not why? 
What wacky nicknames do you have for  your kids that they will more than likely hate?

So that was the mom part, now for some nerdy stuff.
 My friend is also a nerd. He likes comics and cartoons and what blends that together more perfectly then the heroes in a half shell. He was not thrilled at all when he heard Michael Bay is changing the canon of the turtles and started a facebook page. My friend is a smart funny guy. He doesn't know I am sharing this so its not for any other reason other than he is enjoyable I am sharing this with you :)

https://www.facebook.com/TheNinjaTurtlesAreNotAliens

If you get the chance, check it out :)
What do you think about Michael Bay or TMNT? Are you going to see the movie?

As for us, we are dead broke new parents and rely on Netflix now for entertainment, but I did pick this up at Wal*Mart ($4)

 Talk to you tomorrow :)