I have always spoken in funny voices and sound effects, occasionally it is to entertain someone other than myself. As a child one of my uncles used to call me the "talking, walking sound machine" because I was always imitating sounds and making noises. I can do a mean Wookiee growl imitating Chewbacca, the giant hairball sidekick of Han Solo from Star Wars...but I digress. So when Lil' E was born it was the perfect excuse to make reading fun for the both of us. One of the first books I did this with was Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. For some reason I made the bird's mother have a southern accent and the baby bird I made sound like Mr. Bill for some reason.

The best book allowing me to unleash the full scope of my sound effect repertoire was Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss. This book is full of every sound effect you can imagine from a horn, to a goldfish kiss to a big cat drinking. Soon Lil' E was walking around the house saying "Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!" while knocking on something (as in "Mr. Brown can go like a clock. He can TICK, he can TOCK. He can go like a hand on a door KNOCK! KNOCK!"). He would do this whenever he wanted to have you read the book to him. Now he is old enough to identify what things are so I'll ask him to tell me what it is or what sound does that make and he will act it out himself.

He LOVES this book. In fact I read him nothing else for a span of about 2 months while he was obsessed with it and would have it read nonstop to him six or more times a day.

Both my wife and I are avid readers so we hope that Lil' E becomes as excited about reading as we both are and making reading fun and interactive is a huge part of that. Whether it's clapping your hands and stomping your feet while you read Barnyard Dance or speeding up the "I think I can, I think I can" as The Little Engine that Could slowly begins gathering steam as it climbs the hill - acting out a book and the sound effects that go with it can be a lot of fun. I'm a big goofball and I know a day will dawn where Lil' E will no longer be so little and my silly antics will be considered 'embarrassing'. Until then, I'm going to enjoy it while I can get away with it.