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. 

the most ferocious monster

Robert's cast has been off for a week. He's still not weight bearing, but is wearing a boot, which he can take off to shower.  In a month he'll be able to put all of his weight on his foot again!

The dogs and I have been taking lots of walks and enjoying the autumn splendor.





Here's Margo's perfect face.  I mean, look at that face!

A couple days ago I was tugging Ella around in her wagon and we saw a cat, which is a fairly regular occurrence.

What surprised me is that the cat walked up to me and let me pet it.  So with one hand holding the wagon behind me, I reached out and gave the cat some love.

Suddenly I felt two things happen at the same time.  The weight of the wagon shifted and the cat tensed.  There, rising from the wagon like the most ferocious monster you can imagine, was Ella. The cat totally flipped out.  It arched its back, screeched and hissed, and flung its body away from us.

I told Ella to lay back down, and while I helped her get comfortable in the wagon, the cat sat in the middle of the street, regarding us.  That's as far as the cat went.  It refused to run any further away.  It sat there, pretending like nothing happened, and told us to get the hell of its block. 



Needless to say, Ella had a stupid grin on her face for the rest of the day.  Every time I looked at Ella, it was like she was saying, "wasn't that the funniest thing ever?" 

doodling

One of my favorite things to do is to doodle while I listen to an audiobook or watch The Golden Girls. It gives my mind a chance to rest and figure things out.  I use various books as inspiration and fill a page up.  When I finish with a page, I pick my favorite design from that page and fill the next page with just that design.  It is balm for a tired brain.

Puttin' on the Ritz

Autumn is particularly lovely this year.

you put your porcine snout in and you shake it all about

Last week's storytime was a success.  I had only two kids in the first storytime, but it went much better than I thought it would.  I had a much bigger turnout in the second storytime.  

We sang our hello song and then did an exercise from Breathe Like a Bear, which is a book filled with "mindfulness exercises designed to teach kids techniques for managing their bodies, breath, and emotions."  I took the blurb straight from Amazon because it's exactly true.  I've used this book before and it's always a success.  We did the 1-2-3 clap exercise.  You stretch your arms wide, count to three, give a big clap, rub your hands together, place them on your tummy, take a deep breath in, and blow it out.  You repeat these movements but place your hands on your heart the second time.  Everyone enjoyed it today.  



Last week I was super fortunate to attend the Kansas Library Association's yearly conference.  It was two and half days of amazing, inspirational, enlightening sessions, where I did enough learning and connecting to last me several months.  Seriously.  I'm going to be wading through my notes for quite awhile. 

But back to storytime.  While I was there, I went to a handful of storytime sessions and even had an opportunity to shadow the superstar Saroj Ghoting.  She had a very quiet, easygoing, organic approach to storytime.  Like me, she uses a slideshow.  Unlike me, she doesn't cram her early literacy skills into another slide though.  Each skill gets its own slide.  She also worded the skills in a comfortable, conversational style, which is so simple I know, but I didn't get it until I saw her do it if you know what I mean.

This week I did the same thing for my storytimes and it worked beautifully.  I didn't sound preachy and everyone seemed interested.  



The first book we read, Ten Pigs - Epic Bath Adventure, was the clear winner of the day.  Both groups loved it and were so quiet while I read it, I actually felt a bit self-conscious.  They were utterly engrossed in the story.  I'm definitely adding the book to my favorite storytime books list.



After the first book, both storytimes were sitting so quietly I read another book.  Back-to-back stories in both storytimes HOLLER!  We read Count With Little Fish, and they liked it well enough.  The second storytime began to get restless about halfway through.  It was almost as if they realized they'd been tricked, which is sort of what happened.  We will read all the books in the library today muahahaha!  



After the first two books, I passed out shaker eggs and we did our normal shaker egg exercises, but then I changed things up a bit with a new song:



They loved this new song!  We also used the shaker eggs to act out the movements in Wheels on the Bus, and this also went smoothly.  Between storytimes I took a break, which means I read a few books from my stack of books waiting to be read.  I read The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk, which is a Wheels on the Bus spinoff, and it was excellent.  You will hear more about this book later.  One of the actions in this book goes like this.  "The people on the tuk tuk go bobble, bobble, bobble..."  So, naturally we sang this in the second storytime.  They loved it.  If you are having a bad day or need a smile, sing this out loud.  It's a guaranteed 30 seconds of happiness.

We put the eggs away, did a fingerplay to quiet down, and read One Little Blueberry, which they liked well enough.  



We finished with the Counting Bubbles song and a Little Piggie version of hokey pokey.  Both were big hits!  

I am pleased as can be with how smoothly everything went.  Next week we're reading books about bugs (a spider, a butterfly, and various bug poems specifically).

saucy beef with broccoli

Robert, Rachel, and I recently made a stellar recipe that everyone, including Robert's mom, Audrey, loved.

It's from this book:

And the sauce is spectacular.

Here's the recipe

Dog's Colorful Day

Today I took switched out the theme for our activity space.  It is now all about The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  But before The Very Hungry Caterpillar came along, everyone helped cover the dog from Dog's Colorful Day with splats and spots.

meandering

One of my favorite things to do right now is drive to a different neighborhood and take the dogs for walks.  I enjoy meeting new people, gleaning inspiration for my art and poetry, and stumbling upon Little Free Libraries.  Margo and I found not one, but two little free libraries on a recent walk.

Look at that face.  I love her expressions and the way she looks at me and takes everything in.

Josie is still struggling with leash training.  But she would like you to know she's pretty good at playing fetch and also a total cuddle expert. 

Meanwhile, back at my LFL someone dropped off a stack of nearly-new Pete the Cat books.  When I saw them I promptly did a little dance.  

October Favorites Part 2

Here are the rest of my favorite October reads:

Penguin Problems by Jory John and illustrated by Lane Smith (picture book)

Another wonderful penguin book! The sarcastic humor and whiny penguin grousing are absolutely hilarious, but the icing on the cake is the wise walrus and what happens on the very last page. 

The Treats Truck Baking Book by Kim Ima (adult nonfiction)

This is my current go-to book when I'm looking for a blissful sugar coma. I like how the recipes have optional add-ins, icing options galore, and fun tips like crumbling chocolate cookies for a piecrust. The graphics are also very pretty and the book is quite lovable, kinda smallish for a recipe book. I cannot decide which recipe is my current favorite - the plain jane oatmeal cookies or lemon cake. My husband's favorite thing in here is the lemon icing, which can be smeared on everything (fruit, toast, cookies). Next on my list? Oatmeal jammys! 

Kitten and the Night Watchman by John Sullivan and illustrated by Taeeun Yoo (picture book)

Even though it doesn't rhyme, this book reads like a poem - "A crane looks like a huge mosquito. A beetle bumps against the yard light." The story is really sweet too. This is exactly how I hope to find a kitten some day. But I'm not sure my husband will be as receptive as the night watchman's family.

October Favorites Part 1

I read a lot of great books in October so this will be a double post.  Enjoy!

The Smoke of Horses by Charles Rafferty (adult nonfiction)

Favorite poems and lines: 

From Grackle - "I have always believed that if I jumped out that window I would turn into grackles before hitting the sidewalk." 

From Unnoticed - "The anniversary of some future sadness passes every day unnoticed...In every house, there's a dead mouse in the wall that the living mice build their nest beside." 

Other favorite poems I will read again and again are Carp, Drift, and Quarry.

I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt and illustrated by Scott Magoon (picture book)

A charming, heartwarming tale about a terrifying creature who is really just a softie with a dry sense of humor. The eyes peering out of the cave are rather frightening, but once the creature comes out of the cave, he's really quite friendly and beautiful. I love the illustrations, especially the flashlight and the page where the boy falls down. My favorite line, which comes from the creature, is, "...it's hard to eat someone when you're sharing a laugh."

I am Actually a Penguin by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Kasia Matyjaszek (picture book)

This is so imaginative and fun. The little girl uses toilet paper as snow, has her brother toss fish sticks into her "beak" and is not only a penguin, but anything she wants to be, thanks to her unwavering belief in who she actually is.