keep your head up

After lugging around Queen Ella in her wagon for roughly six months now, it was no surprise that one of her tires gave a loud pop on a recent walk. Robert put on his cape and came to our rescue. After inspecting the other tires, it was discovered they were all bald and seconds away from popping. We decided to go on a tire hunt.  The first store Robert called had all four tires.  Talk about luck!  



Thanks to Robert, the tires were changed in no time flat (haha), and Ella and I were on our way again.

If we hadn't been able to go for a wagon stroll that day, we may have missed all this beauty!

siblings, trains, and doll heads

Robert's sisters, Abby and Jennifer, and brother, Teddy, were here for a couple days of fun and awesomeness.  

I made ribbon wreaths for a few people this year. Jennifer's was my favorite.  I wouldn't be surprised if she finds a giant bug to hot glue to it.  Now that I think of it, I wish I had found a giant bug to hot glue to it.

We visited the Union Station and ran into one of my friends, Neal, who is a model train volunteer. He gave everyone behind-the-scenes tours and proved I have the coolest friends (it's true, I do).

From left is Abby, Jennifer and Neal.

Neal and Rachel.

You can't tell from this picture, but they're inside the exhibit.  

You can definitely tell from this picture though. Giant monster humans attack.  Panic ensues in Little Land.  Well, there wasn't any evidence of panic, but it's a little world.  We might have been too big to see it.

Neal is very enthusastic about a lot of things.  He's a brilliant writer (it helps he's a retired teacher and has the funniest stories), he's a movie buff, and as you can see, he loves trains.  Probably even more than Robert, who was absolutely thrilled by all the train talk.

From left: Teddy, Jennifer, Abby, Rachel, me, and Robert

We also ate a lot of great food (my favorite was Habashi House and their greek salad with pickles), goofed around, played games, walked the dogs, and went thrift shopping.  

As you can tell, Robert's siblings are super fun to shop with.  They were overjoyed when they found a barrel of doll parts at ScrapsKC.

finding our stride

Late November I started training the puppies on the dual leash, which is the leash that allows both of them to be walked at the same time.  Walking two high-energy puppies is a bit crazy, but they're doing really well.  Last week Margo joined me for my style of hiit (high-intensity interval training), and she actually did better than she does on a walk. Though I walked them both right before the hiit, Margo still had another poopy in her.  That was the toughest part - jogging with a bag of stinky.

While I developed a poop plan for the next hiit, Robert and I took the dogs to an easy hiking place on Sunday.  Robert suggested I try jogging with both of them.  This sounded absolutely nuts so naturally I decided to try it.  The puppies loved it. Plus they did an excellent job - stayed to one side, didn't get distracted, and had zero tangles with the dual leash.  

So it's official.  I have dogs who like to jog.  We did a a hiit on Monday and tested out the poop plan - walking to the nearest trash can and picking up the workout from that spot.  It's extra work, but nowhere near the amount of effort it takes to walk them and squeeze in a hiit afterwards.

Because I'm constantly changing speeds, I feel like there's little time for the puppies to make mischief. When we're walking for a stretch they look at me quizzically, as if they're saying, "hey lady when are we going to take out again?" Josie has an unending reserve of energy and makes the best faces while we are jogging. Margo doesn't seem to struggle as much with which way to go around poles when we're jogging, which has been a source of much aggravation during walks.  It appears we are finding our stride.

One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how have more speed variety. I used to have four speeds - run, jog, walk, meditative walk.  With the puppies, I can only manage two speeds - walk and jog. Running will take time and trust.  And meditative walking may just be bust until they're worn out (which hasn't happened yet).  

Yesterday I took them for a regular walk while Rachel pulled Ella in her wagon and a pair of joggers passed us.  The puppies saw this and started jogging after them.  We had a pretty good laugh about this.

I think this will be good for all of us.  I just need patience and possibly some extra energy, which I'm sure I have.  I just need to find it.

moon mice

December has been a very busy month for me so I haven't had time to post.  

Hopefully these bizarre picture book pages will make up for it!

Nothing strange about this:

Or this:

But then this happens:

The above book is Everywhere, Wonder by Matthew Swanson.

This is a totally different book (Katinka's Tail by Judith Kerr), but they kinda go together:

  

Josie and her rubber chicken

I have been battling one of those awful sinus infections again.  Thankfully, Robert has been taking excellent care of me.

Here is a video of Josie's perferred way of playing (and Margo's too). Josie is playing with a rubber chicken who has mysteriously lost one of its toes).

November Reads Part 2

The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk by Kabir Sehgal and illustrated by Surishtha Sehgal and Jess Golden (picture book)

I read this book seconds before a storytime when I had planned to sing The Wheels on the Bus. And I am SOO happy I did. I couldn't just add the book at the last minute, but I did tell everyone we were going to add a verse. I told them what the verse was - "the people on the bus go bobble, bobble, bobble" and showed them my interpretation of bobbling, which is what I now affectionately call the "waddle sit." Their reaction was hilarious. They loved it as much as I do. I cannot wait to use this book in a future storytime. The sounds and words are fun, unique, and will definitely inspire interesting conversations. This book is also super interactive. The first time I read it, I was driving, mooing, jumping up and down, and doing my new bobble move.

With a Friend by Your Side by Barbara Kerley (easy nonfiction)

This delivers a double punch of awesomeness - a positive, easy-to-understand message and beautiful pictures depicting people of all ages who live all over the world.

STEP Into Storytime by Saroj Nadkarni Ghoting (adult nonfiction) 

Each storytime plan walks the reader through an entire storytime, from the welcome song to saying goodbye. Each plan also includes an early literacy tip, which is like finding treasure. I really like the way Ghoting words her early literacy tips.

The Hen Who Sailed Around the World by Guirec Soudée (easy nonfiction)

The only bad thing I can say about this book is that there's not enough pictures. I want a day-by-day chicken diary. My favorite moment was when he said his hen, Monique, didn't like his music, she would give him a look that said, "Guirec! Are you serious?" I had a golden retriever who gave me this look when I listened to rap music.

Above, Monique is wearing a sweater made out of Guirec's winter gloves.

November Reads Part 1

November was another great month for reading, so this will be a two-part post.

Here are my November favorites:

The Heartwood Hotel series by Kallie George and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin (juvenile fiction)

This is a sweet and charming series about a variety of animals who run a hotel inside a tree. The characters are surprisingly multi-dimensional, the language is beautiful and complex for an early chapter book, and the story is engaging and has some surprising twists. This series also has lovely illustrations, which is a total bonus because the hotel and characters are vividly described and do not need the illustrations. I think this would make an excellent read-aloud book and I will be enthusiastically recommending it to animal lovers, people who love sweet stories about animals caring for each other, and anyone who wishes to be immersed in a magical world. Here is a favorite quote of mine: "'But remember, everyone's heart has hurts. Some more than others.' Did a hurt allow you to hurt others, though? Mona didn't think so. Still, she wondered exactly what hurts Tilly had." And Mona continues on, thinking about her new friends and whether they have hurts or not. It's such a beautiful display of empathy and so easy to understand, it nearly makes me weep with joy.

Be sure to take a look at the Heartwood Hotel website, where you can see a bigger picture of the tree and the different levels where each type of animal stays. You can also take a quiz to see which room would suit you best! 

A Couch for Llama by Leah Gilbert (picture book)

What a lovable llama!! And what a ridiculous story, but so funny and compelling you have no choice but to believe it. I have been looking for llamas and couches in fields since reading this, and I know that someday I'm going to get lucky and see such a thing. The llama's expressions are comparable to those of a beloved pet (his face goes from flummoxed to annoyed to complete adoration), the attention to detail is perfect (look for the spot on the couch that the llama chewed on), and the language is unbeatable. For example, "smooshy-mooshy, fluffy-puffy cushions."

Breathe and Be - A Book of Mindfulness Poems by Kate Coombs and illustrated by Anna Emilia Laitinen (easy nonfiction)

This is one of those rare books that checks all the boxes for me - beautiful language, stunning illustrations, and it's just as helpful as can be. I particularly like the poem, "When days crash thunder and throw lightning around I am still, watching. I am a calm umbrella inside the blue and gray storm." I think it's helpful to think of an image of something sturdy that protects us from the hurtful things around us and also from our own emotions, which can rain down on us just as much as the emotions of others. Before reading Breathe and Be, I can honestly say I never pretended to be an umbrella, but now I've been an umbrella a few times and it's fabulous. When it rains I pop open my canopy and can't help but giggle. Thankfully, laughter keeps the umbrella open.

smushy puppies and a graceful old thug

You have about five seconds before you are completely consumed and smothered by cuteness.

Ok here we go:

We recently went on a hike where Josie and I slogged through burrs, ticks (in November), and water to get close to a flock of birds, ducks, and geese, while Rachel and Margo watched from dry land.

This is how Josie and Ella prefer to go for a car ride:

While Margo's preferred riding style is this:

 

Oh and this is what Ella, Margo, and Josie like to do when I'm not around to enjoy it.  Thankfully, Robert took these pictures:

Margo absolutely idolizes and worships Ella. Ella occasionally approves of this.

you put your ordinary human bellybutton in and shake it all about

Fall storytimes went out with a bang last week!  Both storytimes were a total success.

Here's what we did for our "Colors" storytime:

Hello song

Itsy Bitsy Spider (same Laurie Berkner version as last week). They loved it just as much.

Quieting-Down fingerplay

Book - Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

In both storytimes, I barely had the book held up before more than half the kids rushed to the front of the room yelling, "Pete the Cat!"  Because it took a moment to get quieted down after this, I asked everyone to help me look at all the shoes in the room to see if we could spot any white ones.  Thankfully, there was one pair of white shoes in the first storytime and two pairs in the second storytime.  This seemed to help everyone focus on the book and get settled down.  While we read the book, everyone had a great time talking about each thing Pete stepped in, yelling an emphatic "no!" when I asked if Pete got upset when he stepped in something, and yelling all the colors, including ones that weren't integral to the story, like the yellow duck on one of the pages. In my second storytime, a grandma sang with me and knew the book by heart.

Book - Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Everyone was so excited about Pete the Cat, I wasn't sure it was wise to jump into a second book, but it was the last storytime, so I was determined to read all three books.  Thankfully Green has only one word on each page.  It also has some interesting holes that turn into things when the page is flipped.  For instance, there are fish-sized holes and lightning bug-sized holes.  The Pete the Cat fervor still hadn't died down when I opened the book and about five pairs of chubby little hands reached for those fish-sized holes and a collective "oooh" filled the air.  This provided the perfect opportunity for me to talk about how we need to be gentle with books so that we don't rip the pages and lose what makes a book special or lose the book completely.

Shaker eggs - We began with a shaker egg warm-up and ended with a charming song about careless driving by Michael Levine and Eric Litwin (heads up, the music video is a little disturbing):

 

I encouraged the toddlers to pretend drive and shake their eggs whenever they honked at anyone. Sadly, no one in the first storytime loved carelessly driving and honking as much as I do, so we sang Raffi's Shake My Sillies Out in the second storytime. This was a hit and the kids enjoyed having shaker eggs for this song.

Book - Freight Train by Donald Crews

Everyone liked this and yelled out the colors as we read the book. In the first storytime I asked what color the car was and then told everybody what kind of car it was. The name of the car was drowned out by kids still hollering about the color of the car.  So, in the second storytime, I told everyone what kind of car it was and then asked what color the car was.  This worked for about two pages. Everyone was just too excited to share their knowledge of colors. But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the book. Both groups were very interested in the page where the train goes through the tunnel. We had fun talking about that and also about how fast everyone thought the train was going. 

Hokey Pokey - I found a honky-tonk version of the hokey pokey, which I think is the bees knees. It includes putting your bellybutton in, which is an exciting addition.  I played it for the first group and it was just too different. There were some blank faces going on, so sadly, the honky-tonk hokey pokey is being shelved for the time being.  We sang the song without the music for the second storytime, bellybuttons included, and it was the best hokey pokey of the season. Sigh.  The ordinary hokey pokey is still the winner out of all the hokey pokeys.

This was our last storytime of the season so we are now taking our winter break, which means almost two months of storytime research. More specifically, hokey pokey research. No, really, I think I'll stick to the traditional hokey pokey for next season.  I am hoping to change up my hello/goodbye songs, introduce a couple new quieting down fingerplays, bring in more ASL, encourage children and/or their adults to say each child's name, offer stamps at the end rather than at the beginning with name-tags, and sing the birthday song for children who have birthdays that week.  This could change some once storytime evaluations are finished and shared with us.

I also subbed for a coworker's baby storytimes this week, but I still have mixed feelings about it and much to investigate and learn about before I sub for a baby storytime again. Because of this, I'm staying mum about it. I did have my first experience singing Brown Bear, Brown Bear with everyone, and it was just as magical as everyone says it is.

After the last storytime, a wonderful thing happened, and it was the perfect way to end a great storytime season. I came out of the back room after putting everything away from the second storytime, and was about to ask my coworker, who was manning the desk, if she wanted a break. A child bounded towards me and stammered, "you're...you're...you're the book lady!" She was totally starstruck! It was adorable. I asked her if she had a good time at storytime and what her favorite thing was (Pete the Cat, naturally), and we had a nice little conversation. It made my day.

Josie and Margo

Josie sat still long enough for me to take a picture of her yesterday so here's a look at their faces side by side.

And, quite surprisingly, we have had snow twice so far this season!  The first snow was barely an inch and the snow where they're playing below ended up being about three inches.  Josie is hunkered down and Margo is the one leaping.

Margo is the one with the toy in this picture.

mostly peaceful except for the open grave

Rachel, Ella, and I spent Sunday morning at one of my favorite places to hike.  It was a momentous occasion because we took Ella off-roading in her wagon for the first time!  Rachel was the spotter and let me know whenever a root or rock, or in one instance, a tree, was blocking the path. It was tough, but Ella loved it.  There was only one steep hill and I went down backwards with my arms wrapped around the wagon.  Ella stood up then, and it took some coaxing to get her to settle back down, but she did. It turns out she's not a huge fan of the trust game.

It was quite the adventure and I think all of us will happily do it again.



This was before we went off-roading. Ella walked quite a ways before she wore herself out.

Here we go!

Each wheel was absolutely caked in mud and leaves but only took seconds to clean.

The next picture isn't for the faint of heart.  If you cannot handle gore you may not want to read any further.

While we were on our hike we came across a gruesome massacre.  A vicious, appalling display of pumpkin brutality. Some died peacefully with smiles still on their placid, orange faces. Others weren't so lucky. Some were torched, stomped, and even thrown, their sticky innards trailing a long, rolling path to the pit of their death.

Naturally, I went into the pit and poked around a bit.  It was very squishy and smelled surprisingly like nothing.  

if you've only got one antenna, shake what your mama gave ya

My first storytime last week was bananas.  I had about a dozen toddlers and about half of them must have shared a few red bulls before they came to the library.  There were two toddlers who were all up in my business nearly the entire storytime.  Their adults kept trying to help, but it just made things crazier.

After experimenting last spring, I decided to forgo sitting in a chair while reading for a handful of reasons. First, it's not comfortable for me. Second, when I'm not using the chair, it becomes a jungle gym for the littles. Third, in situations like the first storytime last week, I need to constantly adjust so everyone can see the pictures.  And lastly, I like to walk around the room if I need "help" reading a page.  Mostly I sit on heels with my knees tucked underneath me and use my arms to make height adjustments.  During the first storytime last week, two toddlers were very grabby with the books so I tried to keep the books above their heads.  It was like a rock concert because everyone's arms were up and waving.  They would toddle, toddle, toddle until they were right in my face.  Then their adults would scoop them up and retreat back to their spots.  Then toddle, toddle, toddle, they were back.

It was during my first storytime last week when one of these excited toddlers sneezed right in my face. Now, for those of you who are rolling their eyes at me, please understand I don't have kids, and because I don't, this doesn't happen on a daily or hourly basis.  In fact, I cannot remember when a child ever sneezed a few inches from my face. Because I was reading when this happened and I also didn't want to make the mom feel any worse than she already did, I kept right on reading and left the snot on my face.  If I am sick in a couple of days you know why.

Needless to say, right after storytime I scrubbed my face, reapplied my makeup, and then went back to the youth services office, turned out the lights, and closed my eyes for a moment.

My second storytime was packed, but everyone was mellow and ready for storytime.  Just another reason why I have twenty different activities and books planned and only use about ten to twelve at each storytime.

Here was the plan for my bug storytime:

• Hello song
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider - The Laurie Berkner Band. This was a big hit and my second storytime especially loved it so it's coming back next week.

• Here is The Beehive. My second storytime liked this. 

• Quieting Down Fingerplay (and lots of deep breaths)
• Book - Walter's Wonderful Web by Tim Hopgood. This was a HUGE hit and the reason why the toddlers in the first storytime were so grabby. Everyone helped me say the line, "whoosh went the wind" each time I read it. This will go on my favorite storytime books list.

• Scarves - a butterfly rhyme (no one liked it) and the same song we did with shaker eggs last week, but with scarves instead. Both storytimes liked this.
• Quieting Down Fingerplay (and more deep breaths)
• Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. This was surprisingly a dud, which made me sad. I even talked up the differences in the page sizes.

• The bubble song. Everyone liked this, but they liked The Itsy Bitsy Spider more.
• Bumblebee hokey pokey. I used my hands for the antennas and forgot one hand in the first storytime (possibly due to snot-related stress). Naturally, everyone did the same thing, which is when I realized I was lacking an antenna. I decided to just go with it. Maybe the bumblebees were having a bad antenna day. Who knows?
• Goodbye song

Sadly, we didn't get to the third book in either storytime.  Walter's Wonderful Web took longer than planned because it was so interactive and fun.

Next week is our last week of storytimes until late January and I'm doing both the baby and toddler storytimes.  This will be my first baby storytime and my first Brown Bear, Brown Bear experience.