story time

Jonah and I just got back from our first Story Time at the library. It was so much fun. Jonah loved looking at the other kids and listening to the nursery rhymes. I can't wait to learn all the words. All the parents there were women. There was one grandmother there as well. I imagine Tim would feel quite out of place if he took Jonah there alone.

The librarian that led the nursery rhymes and read the stories was great. Very fun. The babies ranged in age from about five months to twelve. Some were crawling and a couple even walking, checking out the new babies on the block. After story time, the librarian dumped a giant box of toys on the floor for the children to play with. At that point Jonah ate and by the time the babies were wild at play, he was asleep in my arms. He hadn't had his morning nap yet, so he was very tired.

Story time happens weekly for children in specific age groups in various libraries around town. The Thursday schedule works best for me and, though the library we went to today was clear on the other side of town, one bus got us there no problem. It's pretty much a door-to-door service. The ride takes about a half hour. On the bus, one tends to meet some interesting characters. I even know some people that refuse to ride the bus because of that (e.g. Jonah's uncle Andy). Of course, I met an interesting character today - a retired professional nanny.

The first thing she noticed about Jonah was the acne on his chin. That made me roll my eyes. But she turned out to be a sweet lady. She was convinced I was recently on a show on which a whole bunch of women live in one house for a while to resolve their problems. They recieve weekly visits from therapists and self-improvement gurus. I've seen the show a couple of times, so I knew what she was talking about. The lady thought I was "the girl that was thirty weeks pregnant and unsure of who the father of the baby was." She even checked to see if my nose was pierced, which it wasn't. At that point she was already considering the fact that perhaps I just may have looked like the pregnant girl on the show, but I wasn't her. Once she found out my nose wasn't pierced, she stopped insisting.

Some people will just talk to you... to anybody for that matter. This lady was one of them. I learned more about her in a half hour than I have about some friends in years. She had led an interesting life. She was born in post World War II Japan to white American parents and grew up speaking only Japanese. In fact, her parents, who were teachers, had to insist she starts trying to speak English at the age of four, though she understood both languages perfectly. She talked about the transition to speaking English and how difficult it was. She came to the U.S. at the age of thirteen like me. She also speaks German and Spanish. Now she has a chronic illness which prevents her from working long hours. But she still loves children and does childcare at a local synagogue.

Well, that was my day. All the activity tired Jonah out, that's for sure. He is fast asleep now. We will try to go every week from now on. I'm sure he will enjoy mingling with his peers at the Thursday cocktail party for infants at the county library.

And by the way, Jonah tried some banana for the first time today, mixed with breast milk. He liked it. Finally, he liked some solid food. I'm excited. We are going to try to feed him twice a day now. Hopefully he will start eating more solid food now.