Cutest baby ever!

From our Babies storytime this morning...

Actually Written by Miss Rory, Posing Shamelessly As Miss Lori

My Wonderful Ones were kind of exhausting this morning. Lots of running laps, too many weary nannies, and several cases of the grabbies (when kids just want to take anything that's in my hand out of my hand) but we prevailed.

I think some of the grown-ups have been in other storytimes where they don't have to sit on the ground, and they're sort of rebelling by pulling up the bigger chairs. I do not condone this, but with such a large group it's hard to convince them it'll be easier for everyone if they "find a spot and squat," as my step-mom used to so elegantly say. Besides, a couple of these grown-ups are pregnant or grandmotherly.

I read George's Book! and that went over well, though I abridged several middle pages. The kids almost laughed when I put the book on my head like a hat--and almost laughing is exactly like laughing for one-year-olds.

We tried another read-along with Elmo's SO Big, or whatever it's called. The book has a bit too much text so it was a pretty wobbly few minutes. The kids do love the end, when Elmo pops right out.

I had better luck with Lori's octopus puppet--I wiggled it around and most of the kids waved back. I sang "This is the way we wash our hair/bellies/backs...on a Tuesday morning" and then used one of its tentacles to brush my teeth. More almost-laffs.

BTW, I need some suggestions of new stuff to do with the shakers...the Milkshake Song is getting dusty.

One Hundred Peas

Monday was a mostly green storytime--frog books, The Green Grass Grows All Around song (yes, I used the Barney CD, but it was still fabulous), and Five Fat Peas with the pompon peas. After having the peapod burst three times, and toddlers shouting "do it again" for the fourth time, I decided to take all the peas I had, and send them flying at once. For the uninitiated "One hundred peas, in a peapod pressed, one grew, two grew and so did all the rest. They grew, and they GREW, and they did not stop, until one day the peapod popped." It could have been madness, but they were very polite little twos and didn't bump heads or anything.

I also read Blue Goose (probably better for threes than twos). I don't think the twos quite get the whole coloring the farm idea. I ended with Boynton's Blue Hat, Green Hat. It never fails to make the twos giggle.

Yay Babies!

I had a lot of fun today at my first ever baby storytime. The babies were really cute, and the grown-ups were very cooperative. I read Where is Baby's Belly Button?, Peek-a-Pet, Baby Faces, and The Baby Goes Beep. They all worked well, but Peek-a-Pet was definitely the most popular. I followed Andy's advice to have the babies listen to the sounds as I pulled different instruments out of my bag and played them. When I played the triangle, you could have heard a pin drop. This one little boy had this huge smile on his face, and even the constant roamer stopped to listen. Sigh. I can see why Rory loves her babies. Also, the babies really liked Heather's flower/bear puppet. Many thanks to Heather and Andy for all their help - you're the best!

Please Don't Cry!

The group was very chatty for PJ storytime on Monday. They had lots to tell me and their friends, but it worked o.k. I had the children help me with Little Miss Muffet, and they were really excited about holding the spider puppet. I read The Squeaky Door (Andy does a really great job telling this orally, but I would completely forget the whole story) and it was really popular. We discussed that, "Beds are for people, not horses." Ah, the wisdom of storytime.
At the end I was handing out felt stars for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I was handing them out and all the kids got really excited (for some random reason) about having a pink star! One little girl who was last to get a star was really worried she wouldn't get a pink star and really wanted one, so she started to cry. I had plenty of pinks, and I handed her one, but by that time a meltdown had started. It was very sweet, though, when they were returning the stars, she came up to me and tearily said, "Thanks for the pink star. (sniff sniff)." I almost died.

Monday Tods Chaos

I had a full 9:30 toddler program on Monday, but at least a 1,000 kids in the 10:30. I nearly lost my voice shouting the books. My favorite thing was Rory's Three Little Men in a Flying Saucer. I would have done it with the British accent like Rory does, but Martyn was in there with his daughter Emily, so I felt weird. Hush Little Alien calmed the crowd. I wish that book hadn't gone out of print, but we do have a very beat up copy in the storytime collection. The kids also liked the rhyme, Andy Pandy Sugar and Candy all pop up... repeat....all pop in, all pop out, and all pop down!

The Busy Babies were cute as buttons this morning, with a couple of newbies joining us. I read Ehlert's Color Farm, which I'd never tried before. I emphasized that of course we weren't teaching the babies shapes or colors yet but that it'd might be fun to try something new...let's trace these shapes on our babies' backs or bellies! It was run to watch the caregivers try an octagon, and happily, the heart shape was last. Awww.

It was going along swimmingly when I noticed a two-year-old who just seemed...alone. She was sitting on one of the red chairs quietly and was into all the books and rhymes but I couldn't match her up with any of the adults or babies (because at first, of course, I thought was was a big sister to someone). Finally, about ten minutes into the storytime, just before "Row Row Row Your Boat," I put on a big smile and asked which grown-up belonged to her. No one spoke up so I just kept my sing-songy voice on, excused myself to open the door, and called out, "Is anyone missing a little one?" Within seconds one of our security guards and Leslie and a frazzled nanny rushed over. Phew!

two little penguins...in a helicoptor...flew 'round the world one day...

After "Head, Shoulders" and playing peek-a-boo with the scarves (and we used every single one in the box!), I did something slightly different with with my Ones today. I said, "Let's show our little ones how good our imaginations are, grown-ups. Let's pretend your scarf is a...hat! Let's pretend it's a...bowtie! Let's pretend it's an...apron! Let's pretend it's...lederhosen!" Then I went down the body again, making up new stuff. It was really fun.

We read Ten In the Den and I kept messing up. I would turn the page too early or too late, always revealing the animal that was rolling down the hill at an awkward time. I don't know--I don't like books that are repetitive in story but not in layout. It's confusing for a storytimer! I did, though, show them how the Brits sing the song (with a crazy chorus about knots in your pajamas) and they laughed.

One hit was a song I re-wrote for two of our penguin plushes, to the tune of "Three Little Men In A Flying Saucer."

There were 29 one-year-olds in that room today! Somehow, it worked.