Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

It's funny, I don't remember my mom reading bedtime stories to me. She must have--I feel certain--but I have no recollection. Part of that is because I taught myself how to read very young and was reading chapter books easily by the time I started elementary school, so I read myself to sleep at an early age. I've always been an avid reader--still am, in fact--and I can remember using all sorts of tricks to keep reading to myself after I was supposed to have turned the lights out. Today I can still stay up all night with a good book!

My daughter is such an energetic munchkin--even at bedtime--that it's hard to actually get her to sit still to read a book before bed (she literally runs full-out non-stop until I put her in the crib at which point she collapses). But we give it a good try each night anyway.

She loves Goodnight Moon in particular, of course. I don't much like the book myself (I know, sacrilege!); I think the drawings are terrible and what the heck is with "Goodnight nobody"? But my daughter likes it, so it's the only book we read before bed each night. We used to also read Guess How Much I Love You, but that inevitably resulted in her hopping around the room exuberantly, so we stopped picking that one up at night. Heh.

Tori likes to comment on what is on the pages more than hearing the book actually read; I usually manage to read it once, and then she reads it to me by pointing out each object ("ol full of ush, mommy"). It's adorable.

I'm hoping as she gets older (Tori is not quite two-and-a-half) that she'll be more content to listen to books read to her. I know I'm looking forward to reading to her!