Library Time

Before I was a mommy, I was a nanny. I was always so into educational activities. With most of the families I worked with, I could do whatever I wanted with the kids. I wasn't just a caregiver, I was the activities coordinator, with petty cash. I planned play dates, we had regular trips to the zoo and chidren's museum, we attended "mommy" and me classes, we took swimming classes, I worked in classrooms of the older kids.

Now that I'm a mom, I'm not as into that stuff, and sometimes I feel bad about that. Is my kid going to miss out on something? So lately, I've been trying to get us doing more activities outside the house. So far I'm failing miserably. LOL The latest thing we tried was the library story time. I had high hopes but low expectations. It was a toddler story time for kids 0-2, which is perfect for us.

First mistake was not letting the kid run a few miles before we got there. She was so full of energy, she would not hold still. I'm sure part of that was that it was a new place.

Second mistake was arriving early. In my typical anal style, we were 15 minutes early. I hate going to new places and being late. So, the kid had already reached her attention span when it was time to sit down and listen to stories.

I was impressed with the turnout, there were probably 20 or more caregivers, mostly moms, a few grandmas and at least one dad. One woman appeared to have triplets! The librarian doing story time was great. She knew and understood toddlers, said she would do mostly songs, rhyming games and fingerplays, with a few books thrown in the mix. Amelia loved all the other kids, but she would not stay with me. There was a big stage behind the librarian, and a big sign that, of course, said, "Please stay off the stage."

Amelia took that as an invitation. SHe listened for about 15 minutes, then the pull of the stage just couldn't stop her any longer. After the 3rd time, and a few screams from the kiddo, we left. I didn't feel so bad since there were two other moms leaving with their kids because they also wouldn't stay off the stage.

We left the library and went to the park. She ran and played and made some new friends. It's so cute to see little kids who don't speak the same language communicate. There were two women at the park with a group of kids, I think they did day care. Anyway, there were 3 little girls who only spoke Spanish, they were adorable. Amelia kept talking to them, and they talked back. They communicated just fine, even though they were not speaking the same language.

I think next week we'll try the park first to wear here out, then head to the library.