Story Time

The kids and I have been taking our life of leisure seriously. I figure this is as close as I will get to homeschooling Aurora so why not see how it is. So, together we put together a schedule for our week complete with outings, crafts, workbook pages, errands and life. So far it is successful - though it has only been three days.

It is not news that Jakob and I like books and reading. One of our first activities wherever we go is to get our hands on a library card. In SIngapore we did this literally the morning after we arrived. In line with tradition we went to the library over the weekend, with a proof-of-residence (for a month) from the serviced apartment and our fingers crossed...and leaped for joy when we came out of the library with not only a library card but a stack of books.

One of the many brochures thrust at us amidst our euphoria was a leaflet touting the library storytime. So, Monday we went back to the library for storytime. It was a local affair with about 15 children and their adults, a cheery librarian, and a cozy but faded rug. We sang a few songs together, the librarian read three books, and then we all did a craft. Laid back and well done and best of all we could continue to lounge in the library chatting with parents and children afterwards and even go home with more books. Thank goodness there are kind institutions in the world that let you walk out their doors with as many books as you can carry free of charge.

Anyhow the point of all this is that Sophia absolutely adored storytime. She talked about it all day and gloated over her craft. So when I mentioned that the state library had a storytime on today Sophia was sold.

When it comes to storytime more is actually less. When we arrived at the state library we were ushered into the covered courtyard and nudged in the direction of the stroller parking lot. We passed by dozens of strollers before finding a place to park our own. Aurora happily grabbed her book and moseyed off to the most isolated corner while Sophia, Tova and I were left to weave our way through masses of parent-baby duos. There were easily 70 babies. More than 70 creatures under the age of one who use sounds to communicate. Given the sheer human volume in the room it would have been impossible for any librarian to read any story or utter a single word. Have no fear though, as the librarian had a microphone attached to her somewhere and there were four large speakers aimed at the crowds - so above the cries and conversations came the crisp and giddy voice of the librarian. Tova felt the same way as I did - overwhelmed - and as soon as we sat down, she lifted up my shirt and entered blissful solitary breastworld. Sophia was beaming.

And so went half an hour of singing and listening to an almost too incredibly animated rendition of a children's book about Australian animals. The first session was for babies and the second for 2-5 year olds. One session was really perfect but Sophia was going strong and enthusiastic for more. So enter on scene more people. Now we are at easily 100 small creatures. I thought babies would be louder but actually 2-5 year olds take the prize. They haven't yet learned the notion of indoor voices. Apparently nor had their parents, and the background noise rivaled that of a passenger jet. I looked skeptical. Aurora was still off in a corner. Tova gave up clawing at my chest and took to joining a rowdier family where the children were crawling through the chairs, only taking breaks to shriek. Sophia was mesmerized, eyes atwinkle.

Unfortunately for me it turns out that the 2-5 year storytime is nearly identical to the one for babies. So we sang the same songs for the third and fourth time (each song is sung twice) and we heard the story again. And then we did a craft which involved gluing things onto a paper bag but given the mass of people there really wasn't much to go around so we ended up with a paper bag with about four feathers glued to it. But what can I say, Sophia was delighted with it all. She found the flier that says which libraries have storytime on which days, and is trying to convince Aurora to go to another tomorrow.

Kids make dinner unassisted: Pancakes

Kangaroo will grow 6 times its size. Flopsy looks skeptical. Stay Tuned!