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Angie's First Storytime (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Catherine! It's so good to see you," Kristin, the children's librarian, said with a happy smile from her spot welcoming participants to the program room. "I was hoping we'd see you at two storytime sooner rather than later."
"I'm sorry it's taken so long for us to get over here," Catherine said, approaching with Angie in her carrier. "But now that Angie's staying awake a little longer after she eats, I thought we'd check out the baby storytime you told us about."
"I'm glad you did." Kristin bent over for a better look at the baby. "Ohh, look at those eyes. She's so alert." She grinned at Angie's reaction. "And she's a smiler. Hi, Angie! Are you ready for your first official storytime?"
"Since it's one of your wonderful storytimes, we're definitely ready," Catherine answered, smiling at her.
Kristin beamed. "Aww, thank you." She motioned to the room. "Well, come on in and get a good seat. We'll start in just a few minutes."
Catherine entered the room where several parents and caregivers were already getting settled with their little ones. She put the carrier and small diaper bag by an empty chair and took a seat in front of it on the colorful rug decorated with letters and numbers. After undoing the straps on the carrier, she lifted Angie out, kissing her head.
"Oh, what a little sweetheart," the woman next to her said. "How old is she? About eight weeks?"
"Yes," Catherine said with a smile, settling the wide-awake baby in her lap.
"What's her name?"
"This is Angie. I'm Catherine."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Erica, and this … oof … is my son Joey," she said, trying to contain the boy who was actively climbing out of her lap.
"How old is he?"
"11 months." Holding his hands, she let him pull himself into a standing position on her legs. He bounced in place on slightly wobbly legs before dropping back down, laughing happily. "Boom!" she said, sharing his laughter.
Catherine smiled at the interaction. "Have you been coming to storytime long?"
"Oh yes, we love it. I think we started coming when Joey was just a little older than yours," Erica said, nodding to Angie. "The librarian is wonderful."
"I know," Catherine said, smiling warmly. "I've come to a few storytimes for older kids with my niece. But this is Angie's first time, isn't it, honey?" She leaned over and craned her neck to look down at her daughter who smiled back, flapping her arms.
"Oh, looks like we're getting started," Erica said as Kristin came to the front of the room.
"Good morning, everyone," she said, taking a large stuffed bear from the table and sitting on the rug in front of the loose semi-circle of adults and babies in chairs and on the floor. "Thank you for coming today. We're going to get started with my favorite welcome song. If you don't know the words, just follow along as best you can. I'm sure you'll pick it up." She held the bear in her lap and began to sing. "Welcome, welcome, everyone. Let's reach up and touch the sun." She raised the bear's arms in the air, indicating the adults should do the same with their babies.
Catherine, having heard the simple song before at storytimes with Joan, sang along as she gently moved Angie's arms with the different cues.
"Now let's watch the rain fall down," the group continued. "Gently, gently to the ground. Roll yourself into a ball. One, two, three, let's jump up tall!" they finished, lifting their babies to various heights depending on their age and size.
"Yay!" Kristin said. "Let's try that one more time."
They sang again, this time incorporating more "raindrops" falling on the babies to highlight different body parts.
"Oh!" Kristin said, gently tapping her fingers on the stuffed bear's face. "It's falling on your cheeks. And it's falling on your nose. It's falling on your neck, and on your tummy. It's falling on your knees, all the way down to your toes. Gently, gently to the ground," she picked up the tune again.
The group rejoined her. "Roll yourself into a ball. One, two, three, let's jump up tall!"
"Great job!" Kristin said, clapping.
Catherine smiled. "Yay," she said, gently clapping Angie's hands together. She looked around, seeing some of the older babies clapping happily on their own and smiled.
"Okay, you are all such good clappers, can you keep clapping your hands with me?" Kristin asked encouragingly. She began another simple song, clapping the bear's paws together to demonstrate the movement. "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."
They repeated the tune, tapping the babies' toes up and down, reaching their arms into the air, and rolling their fists around each other with each verse.
"Good!" Kristin praised, encouraging everyone to clap again. "Let's keep right on rolling. Roly poly, roly poly. Up, up, up. Up, up, up," she sang, circling the bear's paws around and around and then lifting them into the air. "Roly roly poly, roly roly poly. Down, down, down. Down, down, down."
After a few more "roly poly" opposite pairs and another short song, Kristin traded her bear for a book. She read Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, talking about the illustrations on each page as she read to model good booksharing strategies.
As she read, one of the walkers toddled to the table, trying to reach the stuffed bear.
"Are you looking for my bear, Jackson?" Kristin said, smiling. "He'll be back after our story, I promise."
Jackson made his way to the large window to look outside, slapping his small hands on the double-paned glass, and Kristin continued reading, used to children who needed to move during storytime.
"Good listeners!" she said to the group once she'd finished, and placed the book on the tabletop easel. She sat down again with her bear which drew Jackson back to the rug.
He made grabbing motions with both hands and Kristin playfully tapped his hand with the bear's paw, causing him to squeal happily and run back toward his nanny in her chair.
"Are you ready to go up and down?" Kristin asked brightly. She lifted the bear high as she sang, "Here we go up, up, up, whoooooa! Here we go down, down, down. Here we go back and forth, and back and forth. And around and around and around."
Catherine followed the movements with Angie, carefully lifting her up and bringing her down, then swaying with her back and forth and in a small circle. They repeated the rhyme, then transitioned into another.
"Let's find that belly button," Kristin said, doing so on her bear. "Around and round the garden, goes the teddy bear. One step, two steps, tickle under there!" She pretended to tickle under the bear's chin.
Catherine smiled to see so many of the other babies giggling and laughing when their parent or caregiver tickled them while others tucked their chins to their chests and angled away, most smiling even then.
Kristin led them through several more songs and bounces, then retrieved another book.
Part way through A Kiss Means I Love You, she glanced up to see the storytime door open and Steve quietly step inside. She flashed him a welcoming smile and continued with the rhyming text describing different emotional cues.
Steve moved silently, not wanting to disturb the storytime, and slid the empty chair behind Catherine back so he could sit on the floor where it had been. She turned her head and smiled happily in surprise at his arrival just as Kristin finished the book and the grouped clapped.
"Hey," Steve said and leaned in to kiss Catherine's cheek. He nodded his thanks to Erica who shifted over a little so he would have more room.
"Look who's here, honey," Catherine said, angling her body so he'd be in Angie's line of sight.
"Hi, Angie," he said, leaning down to kiss her head.
She kicked her legs excitedly and smiled.
"Welcome, Commander," Kristin said. "You're just in time for my favorite song. Let's all get ready to go in our wagons." She sat again with the bear in her lap and started to bounce. "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?"
Steve smiled, watching Angie's reactions as Catherine gently bounced her. Catching sight of him, she turned her head in his direction and he beamed back at her.
"Uh oh," Kristin said with broad smile, launching into the next verse. "One wheel's off, whoooooa!" She leaned sideways with the bear. "And the axle's broken. One wheel's off, whooooooa! And the axle's broken. One wheel's off, whoooooa! And the axle's broken. Won't you be my darling?"
Several of the children squealed with delight as they were dipped to varying degrees, then clapped along on the next verse.
"Mommy's gonna fix it with her hammer. Mommy's gonna fix it with her hammer. Mommy's gonna fix it with her hammer. Won't you be my darling?"
They repeated the first two verses, then had "Daddy" fix the wagon with his pliers before bumping their way back home.
"Okay, one more song," Kristin said enthusiastically. "You probably know this one. If you're happy and you know it clap your hands …"
The group sang along and performed the motions to the librarian's familiar closing song.
Steve smiled and gently rubbed Angie's belly as they sang, "If you're happy and you know it, rub your belly …" and raised one of her arms up while Catherine did the same with the other on the final verse. "If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray: HOORAY!"
"Hooray!" Kristin finished with a flourish, shaking both her bear's arms in the air. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some playtime!"
"Did I surprise you?" Steve asked Catherine as Kristin began putting various toys and books around the room for the playtime portion of the program
"You did," she admitted, passing Angie to him and smiling at him. "I know I told you I was planning to come to storytime this morning, but I didn't expect you to play hooky and join us."
"It's been quiet, so I figured I could spare a half hour or so," he said with a shrug. "Didn't want to miss this."
Catherine smiled brightly. "Well, I'm very glad you came. We both are."
He smiled at her, then down at Angie, kissing her head before looking around. "What do you think, Angie? Looks like there's a lot of fun stuff out here. You want a closer look?"
He turned her around and placed her down on the rug on her tummy, smiling proudly when she immediately pushed herself up using her hands before dropping back down. He and Catherine moved so they were on either side of her to guard against any potential accidents with the bigger crawlers and walkers in the room.
"This must be Daddy," Erica said from Steve's other side.
Catherine smiled. "This is my husband Steve," she said. "Steve, this is Erica and her son Joey is …" She looked around, trying to spot him.
"The one knocking down the tower over there," Erica said with an amused smile, nodding to the other side of the carpet.
They watched as he cheerfully and expertly swung an arm through a tower of colorful stacking cups, sending most of them to the ground.
"Nice form," Steve said wryly. His smile widened when Joey made sure to topple the one cup still standing. "Very thorough."
"Oh yes," Erica agreed. "Gotta get 'em all. And then try to throw them," she continued with a wince, standing. "Luckily things usually just fall out of his hand when he tries to throw." She headed in his direction anyway, just in case.
Catherine reached out and grabbed a bright green shaker, putting it in front of Angie. She rolled it back and forth, causing the beads inside to move and make noise, and smiled as Angie's eyes followed it for a moment before she looked in another direction.
Catherine shook it. "Hear that, honey?" She moved it closer. "Can you get it?" She grinned. "Or would you rather work on kicking your legs?"
Steve smiled, watching Angie kick. "Seems to be her favorite exercise."
A boy with a bright blue shirt walked over, pointing at Angie. "Baby," he said, moving closer.
Steve had already shifted, but before the boy could get too close, his grandmother gently held him back. "Remember we have to be careful around babies, Kai," she said, kneeling beside him. She smiled at Steve and Catherine. "He's getting a new baby sister soon, so he's very interested in babies."
Catherine smiled warmly at him. "This is Angie, Kai. Do you know what your baby sister's name is?"
"Baby," he said again.
His grandmother smiled. "Mya."
"Mya," Kai repeated. He squatted down to get a better look at Angie who was trying to push herself up again.
"Miss Kristin is blowing bubbles, Kai. Do you want to go see?"
Quickly distracted at the sight of bubbles, Kai took off toward Kristin at the back of the room where other little ones had gathered excitedly. The older women gave Steve and Catherine a parting smile before following her energetic grandson.
Angie grunted, having managed to almost cross her arms underneath her as she held herself up, then listing to the side when she pushed more with one arm than the other. She flopped back down but immediately tried to push herself up again.
"Attagirl, Angie," Steve said proudly. "You've got this tummy time thing down."
A soft purple ball rolled into his leg and he looked over to see a little girl approaching quickly using one leg and two arms to crawl along, the other leg tucked underneath her.
"Hey, is this yours?" he asked, rolling it gently back in her direction. She shifted easily into a sitting position when it neared and grabbed it with both hands to push it back toward him.
His lips quirked in a smile and he rolled it to her again. "Nice one."
Behind her, her mother smiled. "Did you find a new friend, Ava?"
The ball went back and forth a few more times before she spotted a blue shaker and picked it up.
"Shake shake shake," her mother said, and Ava shook it back and forth, smiling broadly at the sound.
"You've got one of those, too, Angie," Catherine said, bringing the green shaker close again. Angie slid one of her arms out in its general direction and knocked into it with her hand, sending it rolling a few inches. She kicked her legs in response and Catherine brought it close again. "There you go."
Angie lasted another minute on the floor before fussing to be picked up. Steve lifted her, pressing a kiss to her head as he settled her on his chest. "I got you, Angie. You did great."
"We should probably head home," Catherine said, reaching for the diaper bag and carrier. "She'll be falling asleep soon."
He nodded. "I'll walk with you to the Highlander."
Catherine waved across the room to Erica before picking up the diaper bag and carrier. She and Steve headed for the door, thanking Kristin for the storytime as they passed her.
"You're welcome!" she replied, bubble wand still in hand. "Hope to see you again next week!"
They paused at the door, looking back at the room full of children ranging from Angie's age up to around two years old, all at different developmental stages.
"We've got a lot to look forward to," Catherine said. "Laughing, clapping, crawling, walking. Talking, throwing, kicking."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"But you know what?"
He looked at her, raising an eyebrow for her to continue.
She smiled and ran a gentle hand up Angie's back where she rested contentedly against Steve's shoulder. "I'm loving every minute of what our Angie can already do."
He smiled softly, holding Angie even closer and leaning over to press a quick kiss to Catherine's temple. "Me, too.
Hope you enjoyed!
Storytime books:
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (Harcourt, 2008)
A Kiss Means I Love You by Kathryn Madeline Allen, photographs by Eric Futran (Albert Whitman, 2012)
….
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