Story Time: Reboot

After all of the drama of trying Story Time at the local libraries, we just stopped going for a while. The weather this week has been cold (fifties is cold here) and wet. On Thursday I decided it was time to try again. Xander likes going to libraries to get books, computer games and movies. I also figured it was time for Josie to learn to Sit Still and Pay Attention. Not that I expect her to learn that in a half hour at the library but we have to start somewhere.

We arrived about ten minutes early and the kids had fun playing with Legos, looking at books and running around. There were plenty of little ones running around. This story time was for 18 months to 3 years so Xander would be a bit old for it however I figured it would be easier to go to that one than to bring Josie to the 3 to 5 year story time.

As soon as the librarian called for Story Time so we could go to the appropriate room, Xander started crying. It took a minute to figure out, but I think someone stepped on his hand. I got him calmed down and we headed in and took a pair of seats so that Xander was next to me and Josie was in my lap.

As soon as the opening song began Xander began to wail. Oh. My. Goodness. So I carried Josie and led Xander out of the room. He couldn't explain why he was crying but he strongly stressed that he wanted to go home.

I wasn't about to give up that easily and I talked him into returning and sitting with me. The librarian was reading a book with numbers and I could hear Xander counting along next to me. Then she did a flannel board story, where cut outs are put up on the board. He found that entertaining. Then there was a song that Josie danced to, Xander wouldn't budge.

At one point the librarian stopped what she was doing and asked a parent to take a book away from a girl reading so she could pay attention. The rules at this library astound me. A little girl, less than two years old, gets in trouble for quietly reading at the library.

Then it went down hill again. Xander started saying, louder and louder, that he wanted to go home. Josie started squirming and wanted down. Since this is the library where we were reprimanded for letting a child quietly walk around during Story Time, I knew it was time to leave and we headed out to read a couple books together.

We made it fifteen minutes. We'll try again next week.