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.