Saturday Open

Boy, this was a young crowd! Now, I'll need training for two's though I guess that's coming up. Dead silence for helping to sing or any refrains. I tried to do Jennie's hat but had prop problems. The hat at the end turned out cute though and I had children try it on and gave them baby bird kisses. The bravest was about a 1 1/2 year old. She tried on the hat, got baby bird kisses numerous times and a sticker! I think I'll try it out on the 3 year olds next Friday but act it out after reading the story. That's all folks! See you in April!

Duck, Pig, Cow and Mouse FTW

With a one year break in between storytimes, I was a little nervous for Monday's family open. It went well, though - fun books, enthusiastic kids. My favorite to read was Jan Thomas's The Doghouse, which I had come across while doing a clean-up the week before, and the kids got into it. Lots of kids wanted to share lots of stories, which meant I did lots of redirecting during and then listening after the storytime, but they were pretty cute about it.

Saturday's storytime opened with a child running in and stopping short with a horrified look on his face. "Oh, no, where's Mr. Andy??" Thanks, kid; I think you're awesome, too. I did a very similar program for the open storytime, minus The Doghouse - Leslie had also tried to read it the week before, but Andy had done it the week before that. Book stealer. It skewed pretty young - mainly two-year-olds with a smattering of three and four year olds. Rory's Three Little Penguins was definitely the hit of the morning.

Saturday Babies

We had seven babies, one mom with twins, and quite a few dads on Saturday. The mom with twins was impressive. She would do an activity with one, while the other sat very precariously in front of her, then she would switch them. These had to be the sunshiniest round happy faced babies I have ever performed for. We read So Big, Baby Faces, and Peekaboo Baby (all together). I used the 3 Fat Sausages flannel or 3 Fat Turds as some like to call it. Come on, I ask you, does poop sizzle? Of course not!

I also used the Ravioli snack box with the babies and they did not reject it, although Maxwell did start crying when his dad tickled his chin. You win some, you lose some.

Other rhymes included: Two Little Eyes, Ponies Were Walking, Acka Backa Soda Cracka, Wibbleton to Wobbleton, Sally Go Round the Sun, Grandfather Clock Goes Tick Tock, and Open Them Shut Them.

No Ravioli For Me Thanks!

I had a first today--four kids who refused to hold my pretend ravioli. I had put some fake fruit in one of the story boxes (calling it my snack box) and after pulling out an orange, some grapes and an apple and rejecting them, I pulled out the ravioli and said "that's the food for me" (leading into the song).

I went to pass out the pieces and four toddlers turned me down. The nerve! or maybe they wanted real ravioli instead of a piece of paper towel. or maybe they didn't have a clue as to what ravioli was and it seemed scary or maybe they thought the fake fruit looked way more appetizing. I don't know, but there was definitely some group think going on.

Jason's Blanket was a success. Thanks Jennifer. I tried a new Alligator rhyme and used it with Clarabella's Teeth and it went over just fine. I also read at Heather's recommendation, Walking in the Jungle, which is gold! Interestingly, I had alligators/crocodiles (who knows the difference?) in all three books without aiming for it as a theme. Does that ever happen to you? You realize your hodgepodge actually makes some kind of sense.