I read Katy a lot of Beatrix Potter stories when she was a babe. Also, just whatever I happened to be reading. For poetry, my favorite anthology is “A Treasury of the World’s Best Loved Poems,” and I’d just read whatever I felt like from there, be it ‘Anabel Lee’ or the “Highwayman’ or ‘Little Lamb.’ Her Dad even read to her form his law textbooks. (He was in law school when she was born.) It’s not so much what you’re reading to them at this stage, as it is just modeling the flow of the language. Because her dad is a big Tolkein nut, she’s had the entire Lord of The Rings read out to her multiple times by the time she was three. (this is in the pre Peter Jackson days…;) )

So, really, whatever you’d like to be reading yourself totally works.

For picture books, of course there’s Dr. Seuss. I’d really just head to the library and see which ones jump out at you. Or even peruse the shelves at B&N or Borders. There’s always ‘used & new’ on amazon.com, as well as thrift stores and used book stores. Come to think of it, I just pulled all the board books off of my kiddos’ shelves. I could send you a box for free. (in a few days, though; I’m down with a wicked fever right now–This comment brought to you by a fresh dose of Tylenol )

When I’m more on the well side, I’ll go over the shelves and type up a list of favorites. Off the top of my fevered head, all I can come up with is “Bear Snores on” “Counting Crocodiles” “Goodnight Gorilla” (no words, just pictures, but super-fun) “Caterpillar Dance” ok, that’s it time to lie down again.

Try thrift stores and used book stores. Maybe you’ll only find simple board book types of books with animals, or other things, and that’s fine. You baby will enjoy them, looking at the pictures and hearing your voice. Maybe you’ll find lots of good ones.
I was lucky, my mother started buying books for my kids as gifts. I really appreciated it! It takes a while to build up a library. Most books you can read (like the ones I listed above) for a good four years, so they are worth the money to buy.
Definitely do the library. It will help you know which books your baby loves, and which books you enjoy reading. Bears in the Night was my daughters favorite from the library, so we finally bought it because she loved it so much.
Also, try ebay or other online places. Sometimes you can buy a “bunch” of children’s books. Either by a certain author or something like that. Or if you buy several different books from the same vendor, you can save on shipping.

I also used to do 1-2-3 with little kids that works up to 6 or 7 if you ham it up a bit — this is the 1-2-3 where you take something physical with them (lifting them up and spinning around with them, for instance) and say “one” while starting the movement, but stopping and returning to the start, then “two” and starting and stopping again, and only going through the whole thing on “three.” This gives them anticipation (which is more fun than the realization) and means you don’t have to do the thing all the way as many times. It also helps them learn to count, which isn’t a bad thing.

I have another question too, many of you mentioned reading to him. How/Where can I find books to read to him for cheap? I know our library has a bunch, but it would be nice to buy some. Thrift stores? DI? Book clubs? Any books you would recommend, or specifically not recommend?

back and forth on through the rhyme

having activities that involve crossing that central axis of your baby’s body actually promotes activity between the two hemispheres of the brain, building up the corpus callosum, and, of all things, building a good foundation for reading! (Who’d-a thunk it?)

I second the suggestion of endless varieties of peek-a-boo.

I can’t shill for the Baby Bjorn enough. Katy (now 7) loved to ride face-forward in it, and just watch the world go by as I went through my day. Rinsing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher was endlessly fascinating to her. Getting baby up on to you, and not just resting on the floor, etc, is HUGE in regards to stimulation (& fascination!). Bobby was more of a snuggle bug, and preferred a baby slling instead of the Bjorn, but same idea. I tucked him in there facing forward, and he got all kinds of interesting stuff to look at.

When they’re in that ‘quiet alert’ stage I used to love to read to them–and not just children’s books–poetry, academia, whatever you happen to be reading. It won’t sink in as concepts and the like just yet, but every time they hear a word as a baby, it makes that word that much easier to pick up when they get to the right stage. Go little neurons, go!

I also did (and to this day do) a lot of rhythmic speaking as I ‘jiggle’ various body parts of theirs. Like I hold Bobbie’s hands out in front of him and tug on them lightly, alternately and say:
“Jippa jippa jum
Jippa jum jippa jum
Jum Jum Jippa Jippa
Jippa jum
Jippa Jum”
just kind of wiggling him to the beat. (I might need to vlog that one for you )

Or like
“Who’s a baby dude, Baby Dude, Baby dude yeah
Who’s a baby Bobbie Baby dude
He’s a little baby, little baby Bobbie Dude, yeah
He’s a little Bobbie, Baby dude.”

but, then again, that’s just my goofiness. I’m sure you’ll find your own.

my favorite song is itsy bitsy spider. you can tickle with your spider fingers and have them put there hands above there head when the sun comes out. i think its so cute that there hands barely make it above their head proportionately. its never to early for a,b,c songs whatever your version. also try the little duck song. — five little ducks went out to play….over the hills and far away…when the mama duck said quack quack quack….four little ucks came a waddling back….(repeat with four ducks, three ducks, two ducks, one duck, until no little ducks came a waddling back) but when the DADDY duck says QUACK QUACK QUACK! five little ducks came waddling back. a little sexist i know even just rythmically saying the words counts as singing.

Read to him. Every day, read to him. And sing….
You’re doing just fine!

I’ll also second the getting down at his level and following his lead. Very good stuff. Building rapport by following him and then doing things he can mimic back is also cool. My oldest and I had a great game of screaming when he was about that age — he’d scream (not angry screaming, more of a squeal, really) and I’d scream back. Then he’d giggle for a minute and scream again so I could do it back.

When he gets a little older, you can switch from “i’m going to get you” to “Don’t get me” and then practice evading him. At older yet, this can get to be a more interesting game — I still play it with my daughters in the grocery store from time to time, and they are teens. They will call me a dork, but they enjoy it.

There are also “here comes the bee” or “I’m going to tickle you” or “i’m going to get your tummy/nose/toes/whatever” which works better when they’re a little more stationary, and you can make big spirally patterns down to them. And floobers — blowing on the tummy/neck to make a rude noise — is popular at this age, and an effective way to encourage covered midriffs in adolescent girls as well.

And then there’s swinging them upside down by their ankles and throwing them up in the air to catch them. They love this, but don’t try it if you’re not good at catching, because missing is a terrible thing (not that I ever missed, mind you). Or just throwing them up in the air and catching them — great upper-body workout for you as well. And airplanes/superman complete with strafing runs on family members.

There are about a million little games you can play at this age, and this is the time to do it — when they’re small enough you can pick them up and put them where they need to be, when they think the sun rises and sets over you, and they’re light enough you can throw them around more without getting immediately exhausted.

This is also a time when you can establish games and fun relationships that you can build on and come back to from now on.