Story Time

If you need some comic relief, go to your local library and sit in on Story Time for 18-36 month old children. You won't regret it.

Even though Lexi is only 16 months old, my mom took her to Story Time in Collierville for the first time last week. Of course kids this age can't sit still or be quiet for a story, so there was much chatter, crawling, and walking about. After the story, they sang two songs. Lexi thought that was great fun. First, they sang "If You're Happy and You Know It". Lexi learned to clap her hands quickly and continued to clap her hands no matter what the song actually told her to do (i.e., stomp your feet, jump up and down, etc.). Then they taught her "Little Bunny Fufu". Instead of holding 2 fingers up like rabbit ears, Lexi only held up 1 finger, making it hop like a bunny. But the best part by far was "bopping them (the field mice) on the head" because she got to whack herself in the forehead. This is humor at its height for a toddler. Now Lexi walks around the house all day moving her one finger in a hopping motion until I sing the song, and bopping herself in the head. After the songs the kids got to play with toys for a few minutes, and then it was time to leave. On the way out the door, they let Lexi choose a sticker. She pointed to a Sponge Bob sticker, so the lady stuck it to her hand. Lexi immediately shook her head no, and held her hand out to my mom, indicating she wanted the sticker removed. The rest of the day Lexi kept asking where Bob was, although she pronounces it "Bah". We'd show her the sticker, she'd shake her head no and walk away, only to return 20 seconds later asking for Bah. The whole day. I'm not sure why, but Lexi has an aversion to stickers, band aids, tags on blankets or clothes, stray strings on clothes or rugs, scabs, moles, scars...she just doesn't like them. Very strange.

I took Lexi to Story Time in Olive Branch on Friday. We got to choose a snack first thing, Fruit Loops or Cheerios. I got her Fruit Loops because she had never had them. She immediately went to the kiddie rug and sat down Indian style, appearing ready for the reading to begin. I gave her a Fruit Loop; she shook her head no and spit it out. Then she asked for more. She did this about 5 times before I took them away. The little girl next to Lexi had selected Cheerios and accidentally dropped one within Lexi's reach. She grabbed it and stuffed it in her mouth. I took the hint and got Lexi her own bag of reliable Cheerios. As the first story was read, Lexi tried to crawl to all the other kids and offer them Cheerios. Then we all stood up and sang a song about teddy bears. Then we sat down and Lexi squirmed through a second story. When it was finished, the kids all got to color their own teddy bear. Lexi had a bag of about 7 fat crayons. She'd select a color, scribble ever so lightly and ever so quickly on her paper one time, set the crayon down, and select another color. She repeated the process for all 7 crayons. Once they were all out of the bag, she decided to see if she could hold all 7 at the same time in one hand. This experiment took about 5 minutes, but she eventually accomplished the feat. She was very proud of herself. Then the librarian put a sticker on her coloring sheet, which worked out better than her hand. Lexi tried to color the sticker orange and then never gave it a second look. After coloring it was time to leave. I told Lexi it was time to go bye bye, so she turned to the 2 yr old girl next to her, walked right up to her, and held her arms out, just standing there. The other girl's mom said to her daughter, "I think Lexi wants a hug." The other girl just stood there, but Lexi heard "hug", so she hugged the girl. It was very sweet.

This is long.