Nabubwaya Chambers was born and bred in Kenya, and is today raising her family in Texas, USA where she has been living for the last four years. She shares with us her motherhood experiences as she raises her 16-month old son Lema.
We have been reading to Lema since he was an infant and he has grown to love reading and books. He usually peruses through his books as he identifies the characters he has learnt. He knows how to identify some animals, flowers, toys, trees, and cars. Lema normally picks the book he wants to read when he wants to read it, which is usually very often.
While growing up, I had an aunt who loved to read and had a mini-library set up at home. She would frequently encourage me to read some books by letting me borrow them then exchange them with other interesting ones when I was through with them. I truly enjoyed reading and that helped me learn a good deal of English. I enjoyed reading story books so much that I would pick it over the swimming lessons we had in my primary school. Luckily, we got to choose whether we wanted to swim or go to the library and read story books. I got a kick out of it. I guess Lema has a little bit of mama Lema in him. 
We read a Bible story for Lema daily, either after lunch or just before his bedtime, depending on our schedules for the day. We tailor it in such a way that we are all at home to do this as a family tradition. Lema absolutely loves it and he gets to identify the characters during the story. The stories are usually short enough to sustain the attention of the child. Sometimes Lema wants the book on his laps so that he can turn the pages himself. We monitor it so that he doesn’t end up tearing the pages into pieces. 
I hope Lema will continue to enjoy reading and books in general. There is a whole new adventure found in books. They can take us to great places we have never physically visited and paint the perfect picture while we are in the confines of our homes.
Reading storybooks with Lema is so delightful and I hope it never ends. Enjoy your weekend.
Read more of Nabubwaya’s motherhood stories here.
Great – I especially like that family tradition that Mama Lema has set.