How We got started...

 The most often question asked of GranJan is "How did you come up with the concept of stories for babies in the womb?"

Our son and his wife announced at Christmas that they were expecting our first grandchild! As the pregnancy progressed, Kirsten, the expecting Mommy, reported that while at work she would turn her IPod way down and set it on her belly.  She thought the baby was moving to the music.  That was my first idea of communicating with my granddaughter.  And interestingly, researchers have found that fetuses will move in time to music they enjoy.  

Ultrasounds have shown that an unborn baby will actually turn his/her head in response to a sound as early as 20 weeks. During the pregnancy, Kirsten and my son would come home from work and resume their daily routines.  Kirsten would cook supper and Keith would play the guitar.  After the baby was born, and when she would cry, Keith merely played the guitar and she immediately stopped crying.   

 As an infant, she and her parents flew from Florida to Texas for her first visit to GranJan and PopPop’s house.  While in the airport, Kirsten was scurrying around getting the luggage together and left me with my granddaughter who started to fret.  I knelt down to the baby in her carrier and began to say, “Fa Fa Fa Fisssssh!  Fa Fa Fa Fisssssh!”  She immediately stopped fussing to listen to the weird sounds GranJan was making.  Then she began to laugh at the funny phonic sounds! Thus it began to make sense to me that babies in the womb would like to hear stories with funny phonic sounds, music and rhythm.  

I am an internationally published poet and Poet Fellow, so when I began to write the stories it was only natural to write the stories in a poetic form.  One research group’s study showed that babies in the womb may be able to recognize the specific rhythms and patterns of the stories they heard in the womb.  I then deduced that even if the babies don’t understand the words, they would be intrigued with the rhyme, rhythm and music.  

Research has shown that babies in the womb can hear by week 18.  Noises outside the body are muffled but they make it through surprisingly well.  Some studies have shown that after birth babies will recognize a story read repeated to them while in the womb.

 The Wombsters are the characters you will meet and come to love.  Characters like Miss Buga Buga Boo Z Q, who is a lovable clown bee.  Boinga Boinga is a baby Kangaroo hopping around his home in the Australian outback.  Da Da Doodlebug is a New York native enjoying the sites of Central Park.  Fa Fa Fa Farley and his sidekicks, Ernie Elk and Rolly Raccoon enjoy an adventure in the Irish countryside looking for the famed pot of gold.  Ninny Henny Nite Nite is the governess for Baby Mighty Roar, a young royal training to take his place as the King of the Jungle.  Vinny the Vulture, a care-free soul, flies through the skies over the Grand Teton National Park in the state of Wyoming.  Miss Cutie Patuti, an eight-legged spider ballerina and her six-legged partner, Paul D’Paul, will be released at the beginning of the summer.  Then by Fall, Bandy LeBeaver of French lineage and his sidekick, Baron De Drake, will traverse the rivers in his blue canoe. 

Finally, one of my goals was to help fast-paced young parents experience more personal time with their unborn babies, little sponges eager to experience the whimsy, noise, and knowledge of the world! Just go to YouTube, search for "WombBooks," or just use this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyNJVcnRpCg0-rhEz228ng. 

Select a story, and place your phone or device near your belly for your baby to hear.  Research recommends to keep the sound under 60 decibels since anything louder may hinder auditory growth.  Actually, a safe level of sound would be the same level of sound as your normal voice.  Don’t worry about it sounding garbled to your baby.  The rhythm, rhyme, and music will spark an early interest in learning about the outside world!