Shawn woke up early this morning, even before Abby arrived, which is very out of character for him. He was even dressed and playing in the living room when Bill and Abby came to the door. I can’t say he was fully awake though. He was still looking pretty dazed from his early rising.
Our first event for the day wasn’t until 10:00 am, so we had plenty of time for breakfast, playing, and even a diaper change before it was time to go. Again, neither Abby nor Shawn was very interested in eating this morning, but they nibbled for a little while. A little before 9:30 am, we started to put toys away and get the wheels in motion for our outing. Luckily, I didn’t have to bundle the kids from head to toe, so it wasn’t as exhausting (or traumatic) as yesterday. We piled into the car and headed to the Roselle Public Library for the Morning Drop-In Story Time.
The half-hour story time is a weekly event for kids of all ages and their adults. The theme for this six week session is "Winter's Arctic Chill." The woman who leads the group reads aloud stories, shares various books, teaches a short song and a sign from American Sign Language (ASL), and does a quick activity using a felt board and cut out figures based on the theme. There’s a similar group that meets on Tuesday mornings that’s more focused on specific age groups, but that’s also while we’re in Spanish, so this non-age specific group works just fine instead.
Today’s activities were all about polar bears. The woman read four stories and was sure to let us know where they could be found in the youth section of the library in case we wanted to take them home later. (She read Mom and Me by Melia Ford, Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson, My Little Polar Bear by Claudia Rueda, and A Polar Bear Can Swim by Harriet Ziefert.) There was only one other family there today, so it wasn’t a big deal when Abby or Shawn got a little antsy, which is exactly what happened sometime during the second story! She taught us the ASL sign for polar bear, which looks like this. The woman also had old gift tags that were cut out shapes of polar bears on white glittery paper. She handed each of us a bear to stick onto her felt board. Then we counted them and moved them around on the board. She also had us play a mini-version of hide & seek with them while we sang a modified version of, “Oh, Where Has My Little Dog Gone?” We also acted out a rhyme about a polar bear staying warm even in a snow storm or icy water. Shawn was much more of a spectator for this event, but Abby followed along really well. As soon as she realized there were motions that she could do too, she was on her feet and performing. The last line of the rhyme was, “His heavy coat keeps him warm,” and we wrapped our arms around ourselves like a big self-hug. Then, she surprised me with a kiss! It was the only logical thing to do after giving hugs, I guess! XOXOXO As everyone left the group, the woman handed each of the kids a sheet of paper listing the books and the songs that we did today. Shawn and Abby were very excited to have their own sheets to hold. They looked so big carrying their papers and carefully stepping down the stairs while holding onto the railing in single-file. I stayed between them, but off to the side a little in case either wanted help and so I could be there to catch them if one miss-stepped.
Before heading home, we stopped at Jewel to pick up a few groceries. Unfortunately, Jewel’s shopping carts aren’t designed to hold two kids, unlike the giant carts at Costco. Nevertheless, we managed with Shawn in the seat and Abby in the cart. (I tried putting Shawn in the cart before, but he found the excitement of standing while the cart was moving too much to resist. As expected, that ride ended in tears after he bumped his head when he lost his balance.) Abby listened really well when I asked her to stay sitting so she wouldn’t get hurt. She sat the whole time. While in the cart, she held on to the things I picked up. (I was sure to put the eggs and the easy open bag of grapes on the rack underneath the cart, since I didn’t think they’d be very safe anywhere else. Then, I kept my fingers crossed that they wouldn’t fall through the gaps between the wire rack!) We were getting close to lunch and Shawn was making it clear that looking at the food on the shelves was not what he had in mind. He was ready to go home and eat. (I think he was also a little jealous that Abby got to hold on to all of the goods in the back. I tried to give him something to hold too, but he wanted whatever Abby happened to have in her hands at the moment.) It was time to go. At the checkout counter, Abby helped unload the cart and onto the conveyor belt. What a helper! The cashier commented, “Oh, you have one blue eyed and one brown eyed! How nice!” Obviously, she thought they were siblings, but I’m not really sure why their eye color mattered… I explained that they were actually friends, but that it was a lot of fun to have them together.
On the drive home, Shawn munched on some goldfish crackers to hold him over until he got a real lunch and Abby chanted, “Go, car! GO!” You’re right, Abby, let’s go!
Lunch was well received, though it did get messy. Abby enjoyed all of the toppings off of her mini-pizza and then left the bread licked clean. She also found her orange Jello cup very tasty – at least the few jiggley spoonfuls that made it into her mouth! Shawn’s meal wasn’t messy, but when he decided he had had his fill, he flailed his arms, which sent any of the food that he still had on his tray flying. Lunchtime is over! I had him help me pick up the big pieces of food from the floor and then I sent both kids to play in the other room while I cleaned up the rest. Then, it was diaper changes and naptime. Abby had a really hard time settling down to sleep today. Normally, she might fuss for a few minutes, but not today. She got really upset at the sight of her napping spot in the pack & play. By the time she calmed down, started simply chatting to herself, and then eventually drifted off to sleep, it was after 2:15 pm. When Bill came to pick her up, both kids were still asleep. When I woke her up and brought her downstairs, she made it pretty clear she wasn’t ready to be awake yet. Poor kid.
Shawn woke up about ten minutes after Abby left. He looked really disappointed that she was already gone. When Raj got home, Shawn perked up again. The two Puri boys played in the basement, while I made dinner. When they came up to eat, Raj excitedly told me about the various words Shawn was able to echo pretty clearly: Thomas, Percy, chips, sour cream… and about seven others that escape me right now. It’s time to be careful about what we say around little ears!
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