Did I mention that I signed the boys up for story time at the library? It's a six-week program, held three times during the year, where they read, dance, sing, and do other actvities. The particular class I chose has the parents stay and participate.
Last night was the first night, and it was kind of ... worse than I expected. We got to the library, and the boys helped me return my books, and then I had a frantic five-minute dash to find new books with a boy clasped in each hand, giving an enthusiastic "Hi!" to everyone we passed, and generally trying to get away from me. I'm not really even sure what books I got, I just grabbed a bunch and flung them on the counter so I could pull the boys a safe distance away from the fish tank while the librarian checked them out. (The tank has a "no touching" sign, and despite telling the boys six times before I let them look that they weren't supposed to touch ... well, they did.)
And on to the story room. Looking around, I see that I'm the only parent there with two kids. No less, I'm the only one there with boys. There are about six girl-mom pairs, sitting in a circle, all the little girls happily sitting quietly right next to their mothers. Finally we found a space and I sat down, but had to hold each boy by the hand because they wouldn't sit and kept trying to run away. The effect was bizarrely like a compass, each of the boys moving in a circle around me in an effort to run free. The only other parent to speak to me did so thusly: "Oh, those were YOUR boys out by the fish tank!" That's us, making friends wherever we go.
Once story time actually started, it wasn't so bad, if you don't count Liam deliberately giving the wrong answer to every question the teacher asked him, Max running around the other half of the room (it's a big room, carpeted on one side for story time, little cafeteria-style tables and chairs on the other side), Liam interrupting the story to make loud grunting noises, Max trying to stick his fingers in the phone jack, and other assorted misdemeanors. One of the girls got inspired by Max's runaround to go explore on her own, but a quiet "no" from her mother made her plop her butt back down on the carpet and stay there the whole time. How do they do that? Seriously?
About 20 minutes through the 30 minute session, the boys started getting into it because there were activities they could do. They each had to find a purple cloth (in a pile of multicolored cloths) to earn a purple sticker, which they did happily. And they liked when we sang the songs and marched around the room. But I was still relieved when the thing was over. I stayed behind to apologize to the teacher, but she just laughed and said that the first time she took her son to story time, the class was all boys, and every one of them spent the time running around like wild things. So I guess this week's mortification won't be enough to keep us from going again next week. They've got to learn sometime, right?
The cutest moment of the evening: The teacher was explaining that if Plymouth schools are canceled for the weather, story time is too, and Liam piped up in a nice loud voice to tell everyone: "Hey! I live in Plymouth!"
1 comment:
Holli, I soooo feel for you. I've only got one boy, and I have the same trouble. In fact, I was impressed by how well you handled your two at the park when we visited and I was barely keeping up w/ Tyle. I don't know how other parents get their kids to sit still. It's a mystery.
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