"Reading" with Olivia

As previously mentioned in this blog, we believe that the daycare providers used TV as a daycare tool much more than they let on. The first giveaway was reading a Sesame Street book with Olivia and realizing that she was able to name all of the muppets, even the obscure ones. The second giveaway was when she started sprinting for the TV room as soon as we dropped her off each morning.

Knowing Olivia's love of Elmo, my parents and sister bought Olivia this book for Christmas. She loves it, it is her go-to book for reading time.

Unfortunately, I'm not such a fan. But why should I be the only one tortured? Here's a transcript of a typical reading of "Guess Who Elmo"


"O... M.... L (pointing to the "E") ... "E" (pointing to the "L")

Then, pointing to the characters
"Elmo"
"Zoey"
"Cookie Monster."

"Zoey"
"Duck"
"Elmo"


"Nose" (pointing to the knob on the cookie jar lid)
"Cookie Monster"
"Elmo"
"Zoey"

"Berd"
"Worm" (points to the picture of the worm in Big Bird's book.)
"Berd"
"See, see, Berd"
"Elmo"
"Zoey"
"Cookie Monster"

What do you think? Will this book will stunt Olivia's language development, leaving her incapable of learning words other than the names of muppets?