Notes: Mari and Sammy - thanks for everything, as always
Readers and REAL McRollers - thank you for your amazing support!
Hope you enjoy!
Storytime Fun (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"There they are," Esther said, leaning over toward Angie who was standing at the library's LEGO table with a blue block in hand. She pointed and Angie turned her head, a smile immediately filling her face when she saw Catherine and Steve approaching.
"Mama!" she cried, pushing away from the table and toddling toward them. "Dada!"
As soon as they were close enough, Steve scooped her up and gave her a kiss.
"Hey, Angie," he said, settling her on his hip.
"Bah bee ma yah," she said, showing off the block in her hand. "Ah da!"
"I see," he said. "You've got a blue LEGO."
"Eh go," Angie repeated, now holding the block toward Catherine. "Mama."
"Were you building?" Catherine asked, taking the proffered block and leaning over to kiss her daughter.
"Trying to," Esther said as she joined them.
Before she could say anymore, the librarian Miss Kristin came into the play area. "I don't suppose anyone's here for storytime," she said, her customarily warm smile firmly in place as she looked around at the various children and adults. She motioned toward the program room. "I'm going to open up the doors. Let's go!"
"Ready, Angie?" Steve asked.
"Looks like it's time for storytime," Catherine said. "Say bye-bye to Esther."
"Bye-bye, sweetie," Esther said, handing the small diaper bag off to Catherine and giving Angie a little wave. "Have fun! I'll see you after storytime."
Angie beamed at her and waved. "Bye!"
"Bye-bye," Esther said again. She smiled at Steve and Catherine. "I'm going to run a quick errand. I'll meet you here back here in a half hour."
"Okay," Catherine said. "Thanks, Esther."
Catherine went to return the LEGO to the table while Steve and Angie headed toward the program room along with the other participants where Miss Kristin was blowing bubbles on the colorful carpet in the middle of the room. Several toddlers surrounded her, excitedly popping the bubbles as they floated down.
"Ah me!" Angie exclaimed, pointing. She tugged on Steve's shirt collar when she deemed he wasn't moving fast enough. "Dada!"
"All right, all right," he said, chuckling.
They joined the group on the carpet and Angie bounced excitedly against Steve's side, reaching out for the bubbles.
Kristin smiled. "Looks like it's Mommy and Daddy storytime time day today, Angie," she said as Catherine walked over. "I'm sure you're excited." She blew a stream of bubbles in their direction and Angie squealed, leaning out from Steve's arms to touch them.
"Ohh, look at that big one, honey," Catherine said, pointing to a large bubble.
Angie held her hand palm up as if to catch it, giggling when it popped against her skin. She grinned at Steve, clearly proud.
"You got it," he said, smiling back.
After another minute of bubbles, Kristin invited everyone to find seats either on the carpet or in the semi-circle of chairs as she shut the program room door. Steve set Angie down and moved to sit on a chair. Angie squawked and pointed to the carpet. Chuckling, he and Catherine sat on the carpet. Angie moved between them, one hand on each of their shoulders, and bounced excitedly in place.
"Good morning, everyone," Kristin said. "Welcome to storytime. I'm Miss Kristin. I'm so happy to see everyone this morning." She grabbed her large stuffed bear from the table and took her own seat. "Let's start with our welcome song. Sing along if you can."
Catherine lifted Angie into her lap and helped her with the motions to the now familiar song.
"Welcome, welcome, everyone. Let's reach up and touch the sun. Now let's watch the rain fall down. Gently, gently to the ground. Roll yourself into a ball. One, two, three, let's jump up tall!"
Catherine and several of the other adults lifted their children into the air at the end, while others encouraged the older participants to jump in place.
"Good job!" Kristin said. "Let's try that one more time." They repeated the song and the jump, clapping at the end.
Angie clapped along, her smile wide. She looked at Steve and Catherine as if making sure they were having fun, too.
"Okay, let's keep clapping," Kristin said, launching into the next song. "This is the way we clap our hands, clap our hands, clap our hands. This is the way we clap our hands, early in the morning." She grabbed her bear's feet. "And we can tap our toes … This is the way we tap our toes, tap our toes, tap our toes. This is the way we tap our toes, early in the morning. And we can reach up high. What about with the other hand … even higher, that's a good stretch. This is the way we reach up high …"
Angie laughed happily as Catherine stretched one of her hands into the air, followed by the other one in time with the song, swaying back and forth to exaggerate the movements.
"And we can roll along," Kristin said, rolling her bear's paws around each other in a circle. "This is the way we roll along, roll along, roll along …"
Watching Kristin, Angie rolled her own fists in a slow circle, smiling when Catherine kissed her head.
"Good job, honey."
"Yay!" Kristin said as the song finished, and Angie and the others clapped along with her.
After a few more opening rhymes, Kristin traded her bear for a book, reading Here a Chick, Where a Chick? and lifting the flaps in the story to reveal hidden animals.
"Are the chicks behind the door?" she asked, slowly opening it. "No! It's the cow! What does the cow say?"
"Moooooo," several of the children and parents said.
Steve leaned down by Angie in Catherine's lap. "Mooooo," he said, and she giggled. She pushed herself up and grabbed his arm to steady herself, starting to speak but whipping her head back around when Kristin continued reading.
After finally finding the chicks with their mama hen at the end of the book, Kristin took out a basket of puppets. "Let's do a song with some of the animals from our book," she said. The children in the room watched with rapt attention as she put a yellow duck puppet on her hand. She started to sing, walking around the group to give the children a closer look at the puppet as she did. "When ducks get up in the morning, they always say good day. When ducks get up in the morning, they always say good day. Quack, quack, quack, quack, that is what they say. They say, quack, quack, quack, quack, that is what they say."
When she came close, Angie reached out toward the puppet, wide-eyed, though she kept a hold of Steve's arm for reassurance. Kristin let her touch the plush fabric, then playfully nipped her outstretched fingers. Angie pulled her hand away in surprise but when she saw Steve and Catherine smiling, she reached out again. This time when the puppet gently nipped, she giggled.
Kristin went back to the table and traded the duck puppet for a dog, singing the verse again and continuing around the room, repeating the process with a cow, horse, and frog puppet. After each child who wanted to had had a chance to touch a puppet, Kristin retrieved her bear and retook her seat.
"Okay, let's see what parts of your face you know for our next rhyme," she said. "Can you find your eyes?"
A few of the children were able to point to their eyes, while parents and caregivers helped others.
"And your nose," Kristin said, putting a finger to her bear's nose.
"You know that one, Angie," Steve said. "Where's your nose?"
Angie beamed, immediately touching her nose.
"That's right," Steve praised, smiling proudly.
"Then we have our cheeks," Kristin continued. She touched each of her bear's cheeks. "One and two."
"Where are your cheeks, Angie?" Catherine asked.
Angie blinked up at her, then touched her ear.
Catherine chuckled. "Those are your ears, silly." She gently touched Angie's cheeks. "There are your cheeks."
"And your chin," Kristin finished.
Steve tapped Angie's chin, causing her to giggle. She backed up a step, tripping over Catherine's bent leg. Catherine caught her, resettling her on her lap.
"Okay, let's do it," Kristin said. She started to sing, touching each body part as she did. "Eyes, nose, cheeky cheeky, chin. Eyes, nose, cheeky cheeky, chin. Eyes, nose, cheeky cheeky, chin. Cheeky cheeky, chin, nose, eyes."
Angie squirmed playfully as Catherine tapped the parts on her face, grinning up at her mother who sang along with the librarian.
"Shall we try that one again?" Kristin asked, smiling at the group.
This time as they sang, Angie stretched up a hand toward Steve, trying to touch his face. He leaned down and her smile spread wide as she tapped his nose and his chin, not quite in time with the song, but with definite enthusiasm.
Steve beamed at her and gave her a quick kiss as the song finished.
"Great job!" Kristin said.
Angie clapped along with the group. "Aay!"
"Now let's get our 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' fingers out," Kristin said, holding her hands in front of her and touching her thumbs and index fingers together.
" 'Itsy Bitsy Spider,' Angie," Steve said. "You love this one."
Angie clapped again, this time even more excitedly as she recognized the name of the song.
"This will be our science lesson for storytime," Kristin said with a little grin. "Introduction to the water cycle for babies and toddlers."
The adults in the room chuckled and everyone began to sing, performing the motions along with Kristin.
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out."
"Ou!" Angie cried, flapping her arms in an imitation of the movement for the song. Her parents laughed.
"Out came the sun and dried up the rain, and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
"Good job!" Kristin said, clapping.
Angie immediately clapped as well along with the rest of the group.
"How about 'The Big Enormous Spider' now?" Kristin said, dropping her voice low and putting her hands in front of her again, using all her fingers to demonstrate the difference in size. They repeated the song, substituting "big enormous" for "itsy bitsy."
"Hooray!" Kristin said at the end. "Great job."
They sang a few more songs before Kristin stood and got out a bag of semi-transparent square scarves, handing one out to each child.
Angie held her fluorescent yellow one with both hands, backing up to sit in Steve's lap to examine it more closely.
"All right, let's do a little peekaboo," Kristin said. She held a pink scarf up in front of her bear's face and sang, "Where's my baby? Peekaboo! Where's my baby? Peekaboo! Where's my baby? Peekaboo! Peekaboo, my baby."
Steve helped Angie hold her own scarf up and bring it down on the "Peekaboo"s. Angie laughed, seeing Catherine smiling at her each time she lowered her scarf. After a few repetitions, she started raising and lowering it herself, until she got so excited she simply threw it into the air.
Steve laughed, grabbing it and draping it over her head. Angie giggled, reaching up to snatch the scarf off and grinning at her parents.
"Can you wave your scarves?" Kristin asked, starting a new song. "We'll wave our scarves together, wave our scarves together, wave our scarves together, because it's fun to do."
Steve guided Angie's hand to wave the scarf back and forth, but she wriggled free and shook the material, happier with her own rhythm.
Kristin spotted her and laughed. "It's like you knew what was coming next, Angie. Let's shake our scarves now. We'll shake our scarves together, shake our scarves together, shake our scarves together, because it's fun to do."
Angie laughed, shaking her scarf as she sat happily ensconced in Steve's lap.
"And now can you throw you scarf?" Kristin asked, demonstrating with her own. "We'll throw our scarves together, throw our scarves together, throw our scarves together, because it's fun to do."
As they sang, Angie was more interested in watching others throw their scarves into the air, watching as they floated back down.
"Let's try it, honey," Catherine said, coaxing Angie's scarf from her hands and throwing it into the air.
Angie clapped, laughing, and grabbed the scarf again, trying to throw it herself.
"Good job," Steve said.
Angie beamed at him, shaking the scarf at his face and giggling.
"Okay, let's put our scarves away now so they can be cleaned," Kristin said. She walked around the room with the scarf bag, encouraging children to put their scarves inside as she sang, "Scarves away, scarves away, put your scarves away today. Scarves away, scarves away, put your scarves away today."
Several children, including Angie, had to be encouraged to return their scarves, while others readily pushed theirs back into the bag.
"Time to put the scarf in the bag, Angie," Catherine said, guiding her hand over. Angie looked up at her, then at the bag, finally dropping the scarf on top.
"Good job!" Kristin said. "Thank you!" She collected the remaining scarves as she repeated the "Scarves Away" song. "I can't promise it will always work, but turning cleanup into a song can make it more like a game which makes it more likely kids will want to do it." She returned the scarf bag to the table and turned back around to face the group. "Now one more song before we play, I think you know this one. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."
Angie squealed at hearing another favorite song, bouncing in Steve's lap, and clapped along.
"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it …"
When Kristin pointed to her cheeks, Angie put one finger to her cheek, the other back by her ear, trying her best to copy the librarian's movements.
"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."
After storytime, Kristin put out toys for the children to play with as adults played along and chatted with each other.
At one point, Kristin came over to where Steve and Catherine sat with Angie who had found a shaker and a stacking cup and was working on putting the shaker inside.
"Thank you for the program," Catherine said. "It was wonderful as always."
"Oh, thanks," Kristin said. "I think I have as much fun as the kids."
"And there were some new activities today," Catherine continued. "With the scarves and the puppets. Or maybe it's just that we're not here every week so we haven't seen them before."
"No, you're right," Kristin said. "I was trying out some new things today. I went to a conference last week and attended a storytime workshop. Got some great new ideas."
"Oh, that's nice that you were able to go."
"Definitely. I'm really lucky our administration values professional development and paid for me to attend."
"That's great," Catherine said, and Steve nodded his agreement. "We were just talking about our own jobs. How they can be really demanding, especially on our time, but we're both lucky that we also have some flexibility and can come do things like this with Angie."
They looked to the little toddler sitting on the carpet, focused on the objects in her hands. As she tried to put the shaker in the cup, her hands twisted and both shaker and cup fell to the ground. She spotted a purple ball a few feet away and crawled over to it. Turning back to Steve and Catherine with a big grin, she held it up. "Bah!" she said.
"A ball," Catherine said. "That's right."
"Throw it here, Angie," Steve said, holding his hands out to catch.
"We've been working on throwing lately," Catherine told Kristin. She grinned. "Well, mostly Daddy."
Angie brought her arm forward in a throwing motion, though the ball rolled off her fingers and landed behind her. Unfazed, she clapped, smiling broadly.
"Good try," Steve said. "Can you get it? It landed behind you."
When she looked from side to side, he leaned forward, pointing to the ball.
"Behind you," he said again, stressing the directional word.
Angie turned and saw it. She pushed herself up and walked the few steps over, bending over slowly to pick it up.
"Amazing how fast they grow, isn't it?" Kristin said. "I remember when you brought her the first time. She was just a couple months old. Now look at her."
"I know," Catherine agreed. "I'm constantly amazed at all the things she can do. It seems like she learns something new every day."
Steve held his hands out. "Come on, throw it here," he said.
This time when Angie threw the ball it went straight down, but in the right direction and bounced a few feet away.
"There you go, Angie!" he said, smiling broadly and clapping.
She grinned, clapping twice and then toddling toward him quickly. When she was close enough, she flung herself at him. He caught her easily, smiling as she threw her arms around his neck. Catherine beamed, putting a hand on Angie's back.
"Well, I'm glad you both have some flexibility with your schedules because one thing's for sure," Kristin said, smiling at their happy expressions. "Angie absolutely loves when you two have a chance to come to storytime with her."
Steve smiled, sharing a look with Catherine and then looking down at their daughter. "And so do we."
Hope you enjoyed!
Book: Here a Chick, Where a Chick? by Suse MacDonald (Scholastic, 2004)
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