A Big Number

This month in the children's department we are doing a Valentine's Day passive program.  We have a big jar of conversation hears on display, and we've challenged everyone to guess how many are in the jar.  It's all quite charming, and that big jar of candy has been a real attention-grabber.

Today a group of our regulars (two kids, age 5, and their nanny) came in and noticed the jar.  The nanny tried to get her kids to take a guess.  This activity is naturally a bit of a challenging for younger kids who do not yet possess refined estimation skills.  The nanny knew this, and really just tried to get the kids to guess a really big number.  The first child's guess?  One million.

The conversation with the second child is what really cracked me up:

"How many hearts do you think are in the jar?  Think of a really big number."

"Infinity!"

This lead to a brief, but very nice conversation about how infinity is never ending and there was definitely not a never-ending number of conversation hearts in the jar.  The kids seemed to accept this restriction on their guesses and the conversation continued.

"So let's guess again.  Think of a really big number that isn't infinity."

"Ten!"

From one extreme to the other.  Well done, kid.

Mom

Today as the toddlers were leaving storytime I said goodbye to one of the boys, calling him by name.  He replied with a smile and a wave and said, "Bye, Mom!"

The boy's actually mother and I both cracked up.

Actually, I'm amazed that it's taken this long for a kid at the library to call me "Mom."  I've been working in libraries for almost seven years now, and this is the first time (at least that I can remember) that it's happened.



This story makes me think of another announcement that I should probably make on this blog, though I'm sure that most of my regular readers have already heard the news.  This librarian is having a baby!  She should be arriving sometime at the end of May.  I'm blaming pregnancy on at least part of the reason why my reading has slowed down and blog posts have been a bit slower to come out.  Excitement abounds.

"In the Grand Scheme of Things"

Today a nanny was telling me about how the 2-year-old girl she cares for, one of our regular storytime attendees, loves Mo Willems' pigeon books (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, etc.)  She told us that the girl actually had the book Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late completely memorized!

At one point in this book, the pigeon tried to rationalize his desire to stay up a bit later by saying, "What's five more minutes in the grand scheme of things?"  The girl's nanny told me that at one point the child's mother had told the girl that she needed to wait five more minutes for something.  The girl proceeded to respond by quoting this line from the book.  Of course a 2-year-old doesn't really understand exactly what this phrase means, which makes it all the funnier for the rest of us.  So cute.

Bookmarks

A young girl, about 4 or 5 years old, saw the bookmarks that we have available for patrons to take.  She asked what they were for, and I explained that a bookmark is a way to help you keep your place when you are reading.  The dialogue continued as follows:

"Do you color it?  Do you need markers?"

"No, you don't need to color it.  It's already colored, isn't it?"

Girl nods.

"You just put the bookmark inside of the book so that you know what page you are on."

I then had to take a book and demonstrate exactly how to use a bookmark.  The girl looked at the book with a bemused expression and asked:

"Does it need glue?"

"No, it doesn't need glue."

"Oh."

She seemed disappointed.  I think she just really wanted to do an art project.

This Is a Library

This afternoon I overheard two siblings (a girl age 7 or so, and a boy age 5) as they looked at some dinosaur books.  Unfortunately the dinosaur books are on high shelves, so the kids found themselves a stool to help them reach.  Even still, the kids really had to stretch to reach the highest shelf.  As they were looking at books I heard the older sister tell her brother:

"This is a library, not a jungle gym."

I'd be willing to bet that the girl picked this phrase up from Mom or Dad.  It's much cuter, though, coming out of the mouth of a 7-year-old.

Gaming Trophies

Not long ago I hosted a Wii gaming event for kids of all ages.  We spent two hours playing Mario Kart and Wii Sports resort.  I've done this sort of event before with great success, but this time I added a new twist to the program.  In the back of our storage closet I found a box of small plastic trophies we had purchased from Oriental Trading for a long-forgotten reason. 

I set the trophies out at the gaming event.  When the kids asked about the trophies I told them that I would decide who got a trophy and when.  They might get one for winning the game they were playing, for example, but I would give trophies for other things too.  It was all up to me!  The kids were somewhat intrigued by this and constantly come running to me to brag about their accomplishments.  Many of these involved winning:  Long winning streaks (or thwarting long winning streaks!), perfect scores, etc.  But there were other achievements too, such as helping a younger child learn to play the games or organizing a rotation system so that everyone could get a turn to play.

Over the course of the afternoon I found a reason to reward every child who attended the program with a trophy.  The highlight of my afternoon came at the end of the day when one of the older kids saw that, miraculously enough, I only had one trophy left in my box.  He took the trophy, handed it to me, and told me that I could keep it because I was the best at setting up the gaming program.  Isn't that sweet?

Label added by yours truly after the fact.

But kids aren't simply sweet.  Sometimes they say the darndest things.  Over the course of the afternoon I was able to show off my own gaming skills by competing with the kids in attendance.  After schooling a couple of fifth-grade boys at Mario Kart one of them turned to me, patted me on the shoulder, and said:

"You're pretty good for an old person."

I didn't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult!  When I posed the question to the boy he actually thought about it for a moment before telling me that he wasn't sure either.

Fist Bump

Have you ever been asked by an 18-month-old girl for a fist bump?

Let me assure you, it's just about the cutest thing in the world. 

Just picture the tiny fist!  And imagine a little girl who can't really talk much yet putting forth the effort to make sounds like the words, "fist bump."  It's too precious for words.

Horses Make...

During storytime today I read several of my favorite read-aloud stories, including David Shannon's Duck on a Bike.  On each page Duck greets a different barnyard animal while riding his bike, and each animal responds with the appropriate animal noise.  As I read this book I usually prompt my audience to supply the animal sounds.

When we go to the page where Duck meets Horse, I asked the kids what sound a horse makes.  The crowd went "neigh," just as expected.  As the sound was dying down a little girl, four years old, sat up a little straighter and proudly announced:

"Horses make glue!"

All of the grown-ups in the room - myself included - had to try really hard to keep from cracking up.  

Giraffe Sounds

There is a small stuffed giraffe who lives on the Children's Reference Desk. His name is Butterscotch.

 

Today a boy, about 15 months old, came up to the desk, pointed at the giraffe and said, "mooo." Mom told me that according to her son every animal says moo. Super cute.

This brought to mind another incident that happened a few days ago with the giraffe. As they walked past the desk a mom asked her daughter, about 4 or 5 years old, what sound a giraffe makes as kind of a joke. The girl responded by sticking out her tongue. Apparently that's what giraffes do!

Dear Librarian

I have one last Summer Reading story to share!

At my new library we don't just ask kids to read during the summer. We also give kids the option to do a number of other activities to supplement their summer experience ranging from riding their bikes to doing art projects to visiting a museum. One of the activities that kids had the option to do during the last week of the program was to write a letter to someone.

One of the kids (age 5) in the program decided that he wanted to write a letter to the librarians! He composed the letter and dictated it to his mother who did the writing, but he signed his own name. Here is the letter:


Aww, how sweet!

Easter Bunny's Schedule

Did you know that this is my blog's 200th post? Huzzah! To celebrate, here is a little anecdote involving two of my favorite things: Cute kids and odd reference questions.

Earlier this week a little boy, about 5 years old, came to me in complete earnest looking for some information. He asked me to help him find a book about Easter that would tell him what time the Easter Bunny would be arriving at his house. He said that he needed to know what time it would be safe to come downstairs.

I told the boy that I didn't think we would find that information in a book because the Easter Bunny goes to different kids' houses at different times. I also suggested that he ask his mom or dad if they knew what time the Easter Bunny had visited them last year - as parents, after all, they just might know the specifics of the Easter Bunny's local timetable.

But I totally see this kid's point. Why shouldn't there be a schedule? Trains and buses have schedules, so why not supernatural chocolate-carrying rabbits?

Literary Names

Today I encountered two kids, both under the age of three. Guess what there names were.

Isabella and Cullen

Hmmm, I wonder where Mom got the idea for those names? I can only hope for their sakes that by the time these kids are in school their peers will be fairly oblivious to the Twilight reference.

My Mom Is a Robot

This morning I overheard a little boy, about 3 1/2 years old, describe his mother to another child:

"My mom is no ordinary mom. She's actually a robot. I figured it out."

Sadly for me, the other child didn't seem terribly interested in the boy's mother's robotic tendencies and the conversation quickly shifted back to normal preschool concerns, like blocks and puzzles. But I have questions for this kid. How exactly did you discover hat your mom is a robot? Is she truly a robot, or is she actually some kind of cyborg? Are there other Mommy-Bots? What about Daddy-Bots and Baby-Bots? Has she been programmed to follow the Three Laws, or do we need to worry about an uprising?

I've Got the Moves...

I started my new job last week! All is going well so far, and I have a Cute Kid story to share already!

As part of my orientation I went to shadow my new supervisor as she did an outreach storytime at a local school. While we waited for the kids to assemble, I observed a boy (about 4 years old) playing in the back of the room. He was singing to himself as he played:

"I've got the moves like Jagger. I've got the moves like Jagger. I've got the moves like Jagger..."

ROFL

Do Not Touch

Not too long ago I was doing my rounds at closing time to make sure everything in the children's area was where it should be. When I came to our Duplo table I was greeted with an interesting sight:



The tower itself was pretty impressive in terms of its height, but it was the sign that really made me smile. I decided to half-comply with the request: I left the tower standing, but removed the sign.

Lots of Toys

Said by a three-year-old girl after storytime (edited to remove the adorable "umms"):

"I have lots of toys at home. When you're done at the library, you can come over and play at my house."

Aww, that's very nice of you to invite me!

Thank You

Last week a class of 2nd graders came the library for a tour. We spent some time talking about library cards and what kinds of things there are to do at the library. I then read the class a story and concluded the visit with a tour of the children's area.

Today the teacher came to the library and dropped off a lovely thank-you card that the class had made:


Isn't this card awesome? I love the illustration. Escpecially fascinating is the way that everything is labeled. The word "book" appears 33 times in this drawing! There are signs featured for the "fishin" and "non fishin" books. (For the record that's "fiction" and "non-fiction," not books about going fishing! Also, these signs don't actually exist at my library, but I'm glad they were paying attention to that part of the presentation.) Even the story I read them is labeled as a "zoo book" (it was Wild About Books by Judy Sierra).

Thank-yous like this really make me feel like I'm doing a good thing for these kids as a librarian. It also makes me feel like a rock star. Both feelings are pretty awesome.

Let's Do a Rhyme

Said by a 2-year-old girl, one of my regulars, during Baby and Toddler Storytime:

"Let's do a rhyme now!"

Apparently this girl has really been paying attention during storytime and has picked up on the phrases I often use to transition between activities. Mom told me afterwards that at home she pretends to be me and teaches her dolls all of the rhymes. Apparently "let's do a bouncing rhyme," and "let's sing a song" are fairly common phrases at home!

Imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. I feel kind of like a rock star.

Be My Friend

Said to me by a six-year-old just the other day:

"Hello. Would you like to be my friend?"

Awwww... Of course I would! We shook hands and traded names, and *bam!* we were friends. I love how a simple question is all it takes for young children.

School Visit

To promote the summer library program, I am in the process of visiting each of the schools in my city to talk to all of the kids about all of the awesome stuff happening at the library this summer. The first set of presentations was today, and it was a great success! Everyone was very excited about this summer's activities.

When I asked if they had any questions, one boy (who I'm pretty sure was in the 4th grade) raised his hand. When I called on him he eagerly stated:

"I didn't know that reading could be so much fun!"

Why yes, young man, that's kind of the point. Score one for the library!