The two topics aren’t really related, but I wanted to blog about ‘em both.
Johnny and I have attended three baby story time things at the library. All are geared toward babies/toddlers and they’ve all included simple songs, motions and short stories.
Johnny doesn’t seem to care one bit about this stuff yet!
We happened along one story time session today at the library. The songs were pretty dumb. Example: “Jello on the plate, Jello on the plate, wibble wobble wibble wobble Jello on the plate.”
What the heckity heck?
They weren’t all that silly. But still.
Johnny walked around a lot and looked at the other kids and parents and tried to run off with their toys or song booklet. The librarian told me to try to get him to sit with me, and if he didn’t want to, we could leave. She said it much nicer than I made it sound…but for pete’s sake — he’s ONE.
I don’t think he was being too awful disruptive. Other kids were pretty much staying put, but some were crying and some were heading for the door. And I wasn’t just letting him run wild. He was fairly close to me and if he was bothering another baby, I jumped in.
I don’t think he’s really ready for the “sit still and listen and sing” kinda stuff. Maybe when he’s a bit older. For now, he likes to move around and explore. He does like to look at books, but mostly when we’re at home and have quiet time. It’s too early to know his learning style, but for now he’s kinesthetic all the way!
As far as baths go … goodness gracious.
He has an unnatural fear of baths. I don’t know where he got it. As soon as his feet even get near the water, he lets out a high-pitched scream like he’s in horrible distress. He never screams like that unless he’s in the tub, even during his worst melt-down. We’ve tried bath toys, colorful bath fizzies and even hopping in the tub with him.
He likes splashing in the water as long as he’s not in it.
I hope he’ll eventually grow out of the screaming and using all his strength to get out of the tub. It sort of reminds me how he’d scream if he was in his car seat too long. He grew out of that phase, so here’s hoping he grows out of this!
For now, he gets sponge baths.
This may not work for you, but it worked for us: Have you tried a shower instead of a bath? Even just him hanging out naked on the floor of the shower/tub with you away from the spray to play in it a bit may ease him into it. (I can talk on that more if you’re interested, but you probably already know if that suggestion’s helpful.)
Lana was afraid of baths, but showers were fun.
We did try the hand-held shower sprayer last time and I think it went better, but still not great.
I think we’ll probably try that again next time to see if it goes any better.
Hopefully he’ll be over this phobia soon!
I pop in and read your blog occasionally, and since I am a children’s librarian, your observations about the baby storytime are really interesting to me. We have a program for birth to 18 months, plus storytimes for 1 1/2 - 2 1/2, etc. I have to say, we have no expectations that the kids sit down during our storytimes, especially the baby one. My daughter started going at about 6 or 7 months and she is now just over 2 and loves to go! She still doesn’t sit the whole time and often gets squirmy during the stories.
As far as the silly songs and rhymes, lots of the stuff we librarians use with kids are really silly, but they are more about the sounds of the words and language than the meaning.
I know that with most kids, I see a lot of growth even over a five or six week session - they get more attentive at least for parts of the program. Also, we have lots of things we do every time - puppets, hello song, playing with a ball, etc. and the kids love that.
Keep trying if you’re interested or check around and see what other libraries offer baby programs in your area. We go to our library plus 2-3 other storytimes at libraries close to us.