Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for your excitement when I said I was this was my idea for today.
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support!
Hope you enjoy!
A Different Kind of Meeting (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
Chin poked his head into Steve's office. "Max said it'll be another hour till we have his report."
Just as Steve opened his mouth to acknowledge this, his phone buzzed with an incoming text message. He glanced at the screen and smiled at what he read. Making a quick decision, he looked back at Chin and said, "An hour?"
"At least."
"Okay, I'll be back before then," Steve said, standing and heading for the door.
Chin took a step back to let him past. "You got a meeting?"
Steve grinned. "Something like that. Call me if anything comes up. And text me if you get that report early."
"You got it," Chin said to Steve's disappearing back.
"Walking feet, Commander," Catherine said with an amused expression as Steve approached them outside the storytime room at the library.
"I'm walking," he insisted. Matching her smile, he added, "Quickly. Didn't want to be late." He scooped Angie out of her arms and kissed the baby's cheek. "Hi, sweetheart."
"Baayaa!" she squealed happily, reaching for his chin.
"We still have a few minutes," Catherine said.
"Good. Where's Esther?"
"She actually ran into an old friend in the lobby so when I got here I suggested they go get a cup of coffee together at the café."
"Nice."
Catherine motioned toward the storytime door and they headed in to join the other babies and caregivers who had surrounded Miss Kristin and her bubbles in the middle of the carpet.
"Mom and Dad are joining you today, Angie?" the librarian said with a bright smile. "What a nice surprise!"
She blew a stream of bubbles into the air, and Angie followed them with her eyes. Steve and Catherine watched as she reached out for one, blinking when it popped on her fingers.
"You got it, sweetheart," Catherine said enthusiastically, assuring her that was what was supposed to happen.
Steve took a step toward the next stream of bubbles so Angie could reach them.
"Pop," he said when another burst on her hand. He took another step. "Get that one now."
She laughed happily, bouncing against his side.
"Okay, everyone find your seats," Kristin said, capping her bubbles and putting them behind the tabletop easel that held her books for the program. She grinned. "Out of sight, out of mind, hopefully." She walked quickly over to the door and shut it. "We'll close that so no one escapes." Returning to the front of the room she smiled warmly at the semi-circle of participants in chairs and on the colorful carpet. "Welcome to storytime, everyone. I'm Miss Kristin. It's nice to see new faces as well as old friends this morning." She picked up her large stuffed bear from the table and took a seat on the carpet. "Let's get started with our welcome song. If you don't know the words, just follow along. We'll sing it twice so I'm sure you'll pick it up." Taking the bear's paws in her hands, she began to sing, "Welcome, welcome, everyone. Let's reach up and touch the sun."
Steve sat in one of the chairs with Angie in his lap as that was easier with his long legs than sitting with her on the carpet. He followed Kristin's motions while Catherine and several of the other adults sang along. When they came to the end of the song, they lifted their babies into the air. "One, two, three, let's jump up tall!"
"Eeee!" Angie squealed happily, causing a ripple of "awww"s and light chuckles around the room.
"Angie definitely liked that," Kristin said, smiling. "Let's try it again."
They sang the song again and were all amused when not only Angie but another baby squealed at being lifted into the air at the end.
Kristin laughed. "We could probably do this one all day, but let's try another."
She continued through her usual warm up songs that including clapping hands, tapping toes, and rolling fists, knowing that the caregivers as well as the babies appreciated the familiar routine.
"Good job!" she said, clapping after the fourth rhyme to encourage the others to applaud as well. "Time for our first book." Rather than stand, she stretched back to put her bear on the table and grabbed a bright yellow book from her easel. "If you've come to many of my storytimes, you'll know I love Karen Katz. That's because babies tend to love her books, too. Babies love looking at other babies, and pictures of babies, and illustrations of babies, so these adorable round-headed cuties are perfect." She held up the book for all to see and read the title. "Ten Tiny Babies."
She read the rhyming text which began with one baby ready to run and added more one at a time doing different actions until they reached ten babies all fast asleep.
"Good listeners!" she exclaimed at the end, again encouraging them to clap.
An older toddler who had wandered around during the story reached for the bear paw that was hanging just over the edge of the table. She pulled the bear down and picked it up off the floor.
"Oh! You got my bear, Kira!" Kristin exclaimed good-naturedly. She motioned for it. "Can I have him back so we can do some more songs?"
Kira clutched the bear tightly and backed away.
"Come on, Kira," her mother said.
"No worries," Kristin said, not wanting to lose the flow of the storytime. "You hang on to him for me." She grinned as she stood and reached behind the easel for another stuffed animal. "I always bring a spare in case of bear-knapping."
The adults in the room chuckled at that.
She sat back down with the back-up bear and launched into the next song. "Let's do a little bouncing together. A-bouncing we will go. A-bouncing we will go. Heigh-ho the derry-o, a-bouncing we will go."
They went "a-rocking" next, and then "a-tickling," which delighted many of the babies still in their caregivers' laps.
"A-tickling we will go. A-tickling we will go. Heigh-ho the derry-o, a-tickling we will go."
Angie's giggle was infectious for her parents who both tickled her playfully.
"How about another little tickling rhyme," Kristin said. "This is a good short one to do on the changing table. You can substitute baby's name instead of saying 'baby' at the end." She used a few of her fingers in a little walking motion starting high on her bear's chest and worked her way down as she said, "A little flea went walking to see what he could see. But all that he could see was … baby's little tummy!" She tickled the bear at the end and smiled to see the others following along. "One more time," she said and repeated the rhyme. After the giggles had settled, she moved on to another song. "Enough tickling for now, let's find your fingers." Tapping her bear's paws she sang, "Where are baby's fingers? Where are baby's toes?" with a tune that sounded a little like I'm a Little Teapot. "Where is baby's belly button? Round and round it goes."
Angie laughed when Steve circled a gentle finger around her belly button.
"Where are baby's ears? And where is baby's nose? Where is baby's belly button? Round and round it goes."
They repeated the song, and Kristin led them through a few others before retrieving the now discarded bear Kira's mom had managed to coax from the toddler. Kristin put both bears on the table, this time further back. "Knew I shouldn't have tried to stretch," she said with a wry smile. "Lesson learned." She sat back down with her second book, Baby Parade. "Let's see what these babies get up to." She gasped as she opened to the first page. "Look at all these babies!"
Angie leaned forward, grabbing at one of the pockets on Steve's cargoes and pulling on the edge.
"Look at the babies," Catherine said, trying to direct her attention back to the book.
"Can you wave to the baby in the red wagon?" Kristin asked, paraphrasing the text.
One or two of the older babies could wave by themselves, and caregivers helped the younger ones.
"What else do we see that's red in this picture?" Kristin prompted. She pointed at the illustration. "Look, here's a red balloon. Oh! And this little girl has a red hat and a red flower on her shirt. I wonder if that's baby's big sister pulling the wagon. She's waving. See?" She turned the page. "Let's see who else is in the parade." They continued waving to babies in various transports of different colors and paused on each page to look for the colors in the illustrations and around the room. "I see lots of blue in our carpet here," Kristin said, touching the carpet. She smiled at a baby in his grandmother's lap. "And Jory has a blue shirt on." She paused so the other adults could point out blue objects.
"You have some blue, too, Angie," Catherine said, touching the butterfly on Angie's onesie. "And so does Daddy," she added, giving the collar of Steve's button down a playful tug.
He grinned at her, his voice dropping for her ears only. "I think Mommy likes when I wear blue."
"Daddy's right about that," she said with a quick eyebrow waggle.
Kristin finished the book and the group clapped enthusiastically. "Let's do a couple more songs and then it will be time to play." She grabbed one of her bears and sat back down. "Who's ready to go in their wagon? You know this is my favorite song." She started to bounce the bear in her lap and most of the adults joined in as she sang, "Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon. Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon. Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon. Won't you be my darling?"
During the next verse, adults dipped their babies to the side, and Steve clearly enjoyed this almost as much as Angie who squealed with delight each time.
"One wheel's off, whooooooa! And the axle's broken. One wheel's off, whooooooa! And the axle's broken. One wheel's off, whooooooa! And the axle's broken. Won't you be my darling?"
Catherine laughed happily watching them, and the next time the verse came around, Steve dipped Angie in her mother's direction which the baby liked even more, reaching for Catherine and laughing when Steve righted her in his lap.
Kristin finished up with her usual rounds of If You're Happy and You Know It before exclaiming, "Whew! I'm out of breath, which usually means it's time to play. Are you ready for some playtime?"
She smiled at the "Yay"s she received in reply and set about putting various toys, books, and puzzles out on the carpet.
"Thanks for letting us crash storytime," Catherine said to Esther who had joined them once playtime had started.
"Oh my goodness, of course," Esther said immediately. "It's awesome when you guys are able to pop in during the day. Especially for something as fun as storytime."
Steve smiled as he showed Angie how to stack a red cup on top of a slightly bigger yellow one. "Now how about the green one on top?" he said, picking up a smaller cup.
Angie, bracing herself with one hand on the floor in front of her, reached for the cup with the other hand but knocked the first two down in the process.
"Uh oh," Catherine said, smiling.
"That means we gotta build it again," Steve said, undeterred.
"When my meeting got rescheduled for this afternoon, I decided to grab the chance to come over for a different kind of meeting," Catherine said, smiling at Esther. She looked at her husband. "And luckily Steve could get away for a bit, too."
He glanced at his watch after stacking the three cups again. "Yeah, but I've gotta head back in a minute." He smiled at Angie who was now reaching with both hands for the tower. "Totally worth it, though."
His phone buzzed with a text and he took it out of his pocket to look at the screen.
"That's Chin. Autopsy report's in from Max. I've gotta go."
"Okay," Catherine said, accepting a quick kiss on the cheek. "I should be leaving in a few, too."
"Bye, Angie," Steve said, cupping the back of her head gently and kissing her.
"Ah ba ya," she babbled.
Steve pointed, looking at Catherine. "See? I'm telling you she's saying 'bye.' "
"She's not saying 'bye,' she's just making sounds," Catherine said, smiling in amusement. It wasn't the first time they'd had this particular exchange. "She said almost the same thing when you got here."
Steve kissed Angie again. "Mommy can think what she wants. You and I know the truth, right, Angie?"
"Yee ah!" she squealed, one hand reaching for his face and touching his lips.
He grinned, kissing her fingers. "That's my girl."
Hope you enjoyed! And I essentially planned this week's baby storytime while writing so I'd call that rather efficient :-)
Storytime books:
Ten Tiny Babies by Karen Katz (McElderry, 2008)
Baby Parade by Rebecca O'Connell and illustrated by Susie Poole (Whitman & Co, 2013)
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