Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Reader



Recently I started taking Sody to our local library for their “Baby Lapsit Storytime.” It’s about seven or eight moms and their babies, sitting in a semicircle on the floor while the children’s librarian reads a story and leads some songs and activities. It’s fun. It’s free. It’s sort of social…a little for me but more so for Isota. The chance to see other babies always seems to be a bit of a thrill for her.

What is funny to me about storytime is that the word “lapsit” is in the title of it. Isota has absolutely zero interest in sitting on my lap for any length of time during the half hour. And who could blame her? There are babies to visit, moms to wave to, the librarian to climb up on (how else will you get a closer look at the book??), strangers’ purses and cell phones to find and other kids’ pacifiers to grab. Really, it’s like Baby Disneyland for a half hour. Which means I am basically on my feet going after her the whole time. Up, down, up, down, Sody why don’t we stay here and look at this nice story?

What is strange to me about storytime is that the other kids aren’t quite like this. They all just calmly sit in their mom’s laps. Who are these robot children who don’t move? I don’t get it. On the one hand I think, well, that’s nice – the moms get a little break since they aren’t running after their spirited child the whole time. But mostly I am just dumbfounded and find it a little weird. I know that every kid is different and some there aren’t even at the exploring age yet, but still…where is their curiosity? I love that Isota wants to know everything that is going on in that room. Her curiosity is truly something to behold and encourage. And her charm wins everyone over when she comes over to check them out. I have gotten a couple looks from some particular moms who give me a vibe of “Why can’t you manage your child?” which of course drives me batty as we are talking about the under-1 set. Babies need to explore and do their baby thing! That's how they learn! But whatever, their children will never blaze trails because their moms won’t let them. My girl is going to rule the world. Or at least the library.

3 comments:

  1. Max will sit for about a minute while reading a book, and then he is off exploring too. How old are these other babies? I thought about going to our library for story time, but truth be told I'm a little intimidated. I'm super shy, I know I'll have to overcome this for Max at some point.

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  2. the babies range from about 6 months to 14-16 months. there is one older girl that runs around a bit, but Sody is definitely the least shy of them all. it's funny because the librarian totally expects them to be off and exploring and not paying attention. she is very sweet.

    take max to your story time! it will be fun to see him and how he reacts with the others, i bet. and i wanna know too. :)

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  3. This totally cracked me up! Desmond would be climbing the walls too... but they are babies!! They have energy to burn and new experiences to have. Ahhhhh...Alicia, it is passing so quick. Can we keep them one forever?! :)

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