Let My Voice Be Heard!

I have noticed in quite a few of my daddy-to-be books, there is a buried or hidden theme "Dad, let your voice be heard." This statement is two-fold. I don't want to get into "Dad is in mom's shadow during pregnancy" side, so I will just focus on the fun part...communicating with your baby.

Let the Baby Recognize Your Voice
Since I don't have a real physical connection with the baby (yet), I get my kicks from reading, talking and singing to Baby B. Mom will contest whether or not I am truly "singing." Truth be told, my horribly out-of-tune and on-the-fly songs would undoubtedly land me on the first few episodes of American Idol. They sound just fine to me!

The most satisfying connection I have with the baby is by reading to him/her. Every Sunday night as we get into bed, I snuggle up to mommy's belly and read this week's corresponding chapter of "Your Pregnancy Week by Week." And of course, while daddy is reading, mommy is doing a Sudoku and correcting the pronunciation of the hard medical words that daddy can't say on his first, second, or third try. Despite that annoyance, I have noticed the baby responding to my voice by kicking or punching. Hopefully, he or she is not trying to notify me that I am mispronouncing a word as well!

Many thanks goes out to those of you who gave us a children's book for Christmas (and we did receive a lot.) Not only has this been beneficial material for reading to our baby, but I am learning new things on a week-by-week basis AND refreshing my reading out loud skills. Those old, dusty brain cells are once again called upon to do something. Feels like I am in middle school all over again.