Reading from Cover to Cover..to Cover...to Cover...

Now that she's one, Maile has already reached so many milestones.

We melted when she first looked in our eyes.

We were cautious as she had her first taste of solid food, whether it was Nilla Wafers, crackers, pasta, or even vegetables.

We chased when she first crawled.

We awwwed when she first made sounds and awwwed even more when she said her first words.

We cringed when she took her first steps without holding mommy and daddy's hands.

Without a doubt, though, nothing gives us the bigger joy than her interest in books.

We really can't describe how excited we get when we see her go to the books on her shelves, grab a book, walk back to mommy, sit on mommy's lap so mommy will read it to her, put the book down, walk back to get another book, go back on mommy's lap so she can read again, go back to get another book, and so on and so forth, until she has gone through at least five books in one "sitting".

We just enjoy seeing her curious eyes and her eagerness to see what's on the pages, even if she has gone through it thousands of times before. We enjoy having her grab our fingers to run through the words because she thinks pointing to the words is what reading is all about. I enjoy having her grab our fingers to feel what's on the pages because she thinks feeling the pages is what reading is all about.

Basically, we just really enjoy Maile understanding that books are something that should be enjoyed. Maybe, just maybe, she'll learn to love reading and learning even when she is older.