begin smart's "what does baby say?"

www.amazon.com: Begin Smart: What Does Baby Say?

i'm desperate for my son to start talking, so that we can have intelligent conversations about how bad this season of project runway is, among other things. but i have to start small.

my mom has taught him important basics, like "on" and "off" while she flicks the light switch up and down, which has only resulting in my son becoming obsessed with light switches. now it's up to me to teach him something - anything - else. because when he starts dating, he will not be able to impress the ladies by pointing at the light fixtures.

begin smart has a number of great books for children that are targeted for specific age groups. "what does baby say?" is aimed at 12-18-month-olds who are working on their vocabularies. the lift-the-flap pages keep baby engaged while you teach them new words. simple question and answers on each page help you encourage baby to talk to you. pages ask questions such as "baby eats a cookie. what does baby say?" then you and your tot can lift the flap to reveal "baby says 'more!' "

also included: mommy drives the car, baby says "bye-bye" and baby sees a doggy, baby says "woof." after months of trying, after reading this book to him, my son finally emitted a "woo-woo," which is as close to "woof" as i'm going to get right now.

the brainy baby series encourages understanding of words and actions, remembering, matching words and actions, imitation and the all important parent-child interaction. they're great books for encouraging curious toddlers, not only with their words but with pages that are easy for little hands to turn. because i'm telling you: better to start reading these books than to end up obsessed with light switches.

the going to bed book by sandra boynton

www.amazon.com: The Going-To-Bed Book

ah, bedtime stories. who doesn't love a good bedtime story? we read before every nap and before bedtime at night. however i've discovered something: babies have surprisingly short attention spans. who knew?

lots of books i love have been nixed off of the bedtime reading list, including anything that's not a board book. (incidentally, we asked our friends with a 2 1/2 year old when we could graduate to "real" books without getting them torn to shreds. their answer? "we'll let you know.") also off the list? anything with too many words on each page, anything too long and anything that drives me crazy. sorry, but when you read the same book 3, 4 or 5 times in a row, you'd better find it enjoyable.

beloved illustrator and author sandra boynton brings us "the going to bed book," a whimsical tale of animals that live on a boat (of course), brush their teeth (naturally) and exercise (um... okay) before going to bed. her lively illustrations of dogs putting on pajamas and elephants exercising on boat decks keep little ones riveted while her short but sweet rhymes tell a silly going to bed story perfect for right before sleep.

the going to bed book is a perfect addition to baby's library and is a tale you'll both love to read over and over again. because i can promise you, if your baby gets his way, you will be reading it over and over and over and over again.

sassy "who loves baby?" photo album

www.amazon.com

my friend's mother in law lives out of town, and as my friend says, "she's desperately trying to imprint herself on my son. every time we see my mother in law, she leans over my son chanting 'it's your grandma! it's your grandma!' she is making me crazy."

save yourself from the it's-your-grandmas with this great product from sassy. the "who loves baby?" book is made of soft vinyl and designed to hold up to 6 pictures of family members or loved ones (or the family weiner dog) so that baby can learn who's who.

photos are safely ensconced in plastic to protect them from overeager droolers excited to see pictures of their daddies and the grip handle also serves as a teether. easy to clean pages mean that baby can drag "who loves baby?" to every mealtime and escape sparkly clean. what better and more delicious way to learn how popular you are?

bookplates from bookplate ink

www.bookplateink.com

my mother studied early childhood education, and as a result always gives books as baby presents at showers and birthday parties. now, naturally, so do i.

but as babies get older and amass a larger library, it's nice to personalize things either for your own collection or to help keep track of "library loans" to friends.

bookplate ink makes custom bookplates to put on the inside of your little one's books (or yours!). many of their black and white designs may look familiar - they use classic, hard-to-find 1930s designs from the Antioch Bookplate Company. bookplate ink also carries whimsical color bookplates in many different styles. we love the japanese woodblock inspired waves (shown) for something cool and a little different.

bookplate ink will also make custom bookplates exactly to your liking - that's right, you can submit your own artwork and work with their designers to get exactly what you want. if you're looking for a unique shower gift or something to give your future academic, personalized bookplates are the way to go.

good night, gorilla by peggy rathmann

www.amazon.com

board books are great for little ones who are learning to appreciate being read their favorite stories, and "good night, gorilla" is one of my absolute favorites.

almost every baby i know has a copy of "good night, gorilla" in their baby book arsenal. peggy rathman has come up with a wonderful story about a gorilla who sneakily helps his fellow animals out of their cages to go sleep in the zookeeper's house.

rathmann's whimsical illustrations and amazing attention to detail will keep your little one captivated, as they discover the stuffed babar in the elephant's cage, the toy ernie in the armadillo's home and the little mouse that drags a banana throughout the entire book for the gorilla.

cole's favorite part is when the zookeeper's wife discovers the gorilla in her bed. rathmann's rendering of her shock and surprise is fantastic - he laughs every single time we see it. "good night, gorilla" is an absolute must for your baby's library.

quiet loud by leslie patricelli

www.amazon.com

we've been doing a lot of reading in our house lately now that cole is transitioning from eating books to actually listening when i read them out loud.

i am absolutely in love with leslie particelli's board books. her illustrations are perfect, featuring a wide-eyed toddler who acts out each set of opposites throughout the book. the bright colors, clever drawings and clean lines will quickly engage your little one as you demonstrate things like "birds are quiet - airplanes are loud."

the favorite in our house? "fishies are quiet - doggies are loud," which shows a barking dog and a toddler putting his fingers in his ears.

apparently leslie patricelli could see in the windows of my house when she was illustrating this book, because in my house, doggies are very, very loud.

lamaze peek-a-boo soft book

www.timbuktoys.com

okay, so apparently it's not only book week, but peek-a-boo week as well.

we were over at cole's friend oliver's house yesterday and got a good look at all his toys. no, we didn't steal any (this time) but we did see some cool stuff! cool stuff like the lamaze peek-a-boo soft developmental book.

lamaze's peek a boo book is soft and easy for little hands to grab, with flaps to lift up to find daddy, kitty, puppy, octopus, spatula, etc. (i may have made up the last two.)

the pictures are adorable and tell the story of a family who loves to hide, with big flaps for your baby to help reveal and discover who's hiding. best of all, the fact that it's made of cloth makes it hard for baby to destroy, although i'm sure if you wait long enough, he'll find a way.

peek-a-who by nina laden

www.amazon.com

peek-a-who is cole's favorite book. my husband reads it to him every morning before he leaves for work. cole will actually stop what he's doing to listen to the words. and then he eats the book.

peek-a-who is a great little board book with rhyming words and cut-outs. each page begins "peek-a....." and then you and your little one can turn the page to discover that the cow pattern is really a cow (peek-a-moo), the animal patterns are a bunch of animals (peek-a-zoo) and the mirror is a baby (peek-a-you)!

the best part about peek-a-who and other board books is that they're easy for baby to grab, turn the pages, and, of course, nibble on. our peek-a-who is already quite "well-loved," and my son is only 9 months old. so it might be best to buy two copies for when they eat through the first one.