On her way to Yale

"A told B and B told C, I'll beat you to the top of the coconut tree. Whee said D to E, F, G, I'll beat you to the top of the coconut tree. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom..."

As we lay on our bed, and I began to read one of Brooklyn's favorite books, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, she begins to kick her legs, move her arms up and down and make a soft squealing noise. Within a few seconds, a smile lights up her face and melts my heart. Reading is a big part of her bedtime routine. After she is snug in her feety pajamas, the three of us lay down, or on occasion we sit up, and read several books. We always pick something new and fresh to start off with, and of course there are books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom that we read more often because they're fun and she really enjoys them, but we always end with two stories: Wynken, Blynken and Nod and Baby's Bedtime. By the time the words "Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night sailed off in a wooden shoe. Sailed on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew..." roll off Daddy's tongue, she starts yawning and her once flalling arms and legs are still, but she's still excited to go on the nighttime journey to sleepyland with Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

Many reports and books about infant development say that long before your baby is ready to hold a book, they'll start learning about reading and language through their relationship with you. Talking and reading to your infant or toddler provides the building blocks they'll need to develop language and reading skills of their own. There has been many debates on when to start reading to your baby. Some have said to start when they are newborns because a baby will be picking up on the rhythm of language -- rather than the content -- as he hears you speak. Others have suggested starting at six months because a baby will be more interested in touching, looking at the bright pictures and will get more out of it.

In the long run, reading helps build your child's vocabulary, stimulate her imagination, and improve her communication skills. Studies have shown that language skills -- and even intelligence -- can depend on an infant's daily exposure to a large vocabulary. In one such study, babies who heard an average of 2,100 words an hour scored higher on standard tests when they reached age 3 than did children whose parents hadn't been as verbal.

We've been reading to Brooklyn since she was a few weeks old, and we talk to her all the time - starting the first second she was born. We hope that all we are doing is helping her develop into an itelligent woman who will achieve anything her heart desires. After all, I told her when we were at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock during our vacation, that she can be the first female president if she wanted to be.

As if almost a concidence about a month ago, she received an invitation from Yale University (where US President have graduated from) inviting her to meet with an admissions counselor who was going to be in the neighborhood. On Monday, she got a viewbook from Yale providing her with an overview, history and admission information of the prestigious Ivy League university. My first reaction was "Do they realize she's only 6 months old?" My husband joked that they sent it to let us, her parents, because we need 18 years to save that amount of money - which is almost the same as what we paid for our home! Regardless, it was fun sitting on the family room floor going page by page reading and looking through the viewbook with Brooklyn. She seemed excited as she hit and talked to the pages. Who knows, maybe this is a sign that she'll be going to Yale in 18 years!