Picture it. . .we're in a cute kid-inspired decorated room in the library. . .about 15 moms with babies ranging in ages from 6 months to about 18 months. . .all laughing and playing and running around. . .they hand us a book, some bubbles, a jingle bell and a plastic Easter egg filled with rice. Miss Mary Beth holds a large stuffed Pooh Bear and tells us all to sit down in a circle and we'll get started. How much more fun could you have at 10 a.m. at the library?
We sing hokey pokey . . . we sing our alphabet. . .we say a few nursery rhymes. . .we blow bubbles. . .and "jingle" along to a kiddie rendition of YMCA. . .and I'm thinking, this is great. Cole is in absolute amazement of the place and the kids and the singing and fun going on. And then it's time to read our books. . .
We are told to sit the babies on our laps crossed legged. We all have the same book and the plan is that we'll all read them together. So I sit Cole down. . .which, incidentally, is how he sits with Bill every evening when they read their books together so Cole eagerly finds his place on my lap and is ready to go. . .and we start reading.
And he starts fussing. Almost immediately. The other children are mesmerized by their moms reading a story that is echoed throughout the room. Mine is trying to pull away from me in that way he arches his back and pushes at my face to break free. Miss Mary Beth looks at me to make sure everything is okay and I somewhat forcefully replace Cole to my lap and whisper to him that mom is reading him a story, too. . .and he loves stories. . . and should be good to mom in front of other moms and listen to the story. . .especially while we're in public at the library. . .but he just keeps trying to break free.
I can see that I'm losing this battle so I gingerly put Cole on the floor to see what he'll do. It seems, at first, that he still wants a story but just would prefer being on the floor. Phew. I continue to read. And then he turns around. . .and starts to crawl through the circle. . .over to Miss Mary Beth. . .puts his head in his hands and intently continues to listen to her read the story!
And I'm abandoned across the circle, with my book still in my hand. . .and moms are looking at me because my baby obviously would rather listen to Miss Mary Beth. . .and I panic. So I give one of those "silly kids. . .what won't they do?. . .please excuse us" sort of smiles and I grab Cole and bring him back. We immediately go through the same process. . .he breaks free and crawls across the circle to another mom. . .puts his head in his hands. . .smiles this time. . .and listens to her read the story.
This is where I give up. I figure it's not a huge deal if Cole wants to listen to other moms read him a story. . .regardless of how damaging it is to my ego. . .but now the issue is. . .I'm still by myself in the circle reading a baby book to no one! And I continue to read to myself! Baby cake. . baby cake. . I love you. . .baby cake. . .baby cake. . .eat a shoe. . .or whatever the book read. . .it was a blur at this point.
I'm fully aware that this is all in my head. . .but it was the longest baby book I'd ever read. . .horribly embarrassing. . .and I swear that several times Cole looked back at me just to rub it in. After the stories, Miss Mary Beth dumped a box of toys in the middle of the room and the babies had fun playing with the toys and each other. . .
And in the end Cole met a nice chubby baby named Joseph who really liked to keep his fist in Cole's mouth. Of course I was far too embarrassed to be taking pictures for you. . .so I don't have any proof of this event. But if we decide to return next week. . .I'll sneak a video for you.
What I can share, however. . .is a picture of a latch hook I made for Cole! Yes, me. And yes, latch hook. I seemed to remember liking latch hooks and thinking they were nice. Once I made one. . .I realized they aren't very nice and now I have this scratchy, sort of ugly rug thing that I need to do something with. Here are some pictures of my masterpiece:
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