Story Time

I have a story about Story Time. Today was Harry's first visit to the library, and we were there especially for Story Time. I've heard really good things about Story Time. And I was assured that there were kids of all ages, even Harry's age, which I found remarkable because I cannot get him to sit still for one story unless I let him chew on the book, which I only sometimes do, and only when the books are ours.

There seemed to be an extraordinarily large number of children, more than 12 and possibly 20. (Ever tried counting moving children? Not easy.) There was a big age range, from the impossibly tiny newborn on my right to the probably 6-year-old to my left. And Miss Nancy, the children's librarian, had an impressive stack of books and a teddy bear puppet and a rocking chair. It looked promising.

Harry made it through the "Nice to Meet You" song and a book about a duck on a bike called, appropriately, Duck on a Bike. Then he spied the stroller on the opposite side of the room and immediately took off, hoping, I'm sure, to tip it over and play with the wheels, because he is All Boy. The stroller was occupied by a sleeping baby, and luckily I was hot on Harry's trial. Of course, being foiled again didn't please Harry, and he started warming up for a tantrum. I took him out of the room for a little break and to let him walk around, but the instant we left the Story Time room he was literally pressing his face up against the glass of the door, desperate to rejoin the group. We went back in for the Hokey Pokey and a story about the garbage truck, but we had to make another quick exit before the arts and crafts projects, which is probably okay, because if Harry is anything like his dad, he would have skipped the arts and crafts and just eaten his weight in paste.

I feel good that I made the effort and got Harry out there in a group with other kids, and I wasn't even really that embarrassed to have to swoop in and remove him twice, and I even managed to get a few books to bring home. The one I'm really looking forward to is Pirate Pete's Talk Like a Pirate, which I will make Kevin read aloud to Harry, and it will be hilarious because each accent Kevin does sounds exactly like every other accent in his repertoire: imagine Scottish meets Pirate meets Thurston Howell III.