Things I learned at story time...

I did it. I went back to story time. Or rather, we went back to storytime. But I was the reluctant one. It has been over a year since we went to Barnes and Noble on a Wednesday morning for story time. The last time... well... the last time was the stuff of mommy nightmares. I honestly can't remember every detail because I have tried to block them from my memory.

It was back when Big Sister was still having a hard time adjusting to having a sister. Somewhere after the story (appropriately, I think it was Where the Wild Things Are) and the snack, something snapped. I don't know what set her off- maybe I told her it was time to go, or maybe I said we couldn't buy one of those oh-so-conveniently-placed non-book-Disney-Princess-box-of-crap-we-don't-need that seems to suck her in. Maybe it was the half of a sugar cookie covered in sugar sprinkles and the shot glass of milk. Maybe I was paying too much attention to the drowsy baby strapped to me in the sling. Maybe she was inspired by Max in the story. Heck, maybe the story lady pinched her while I wasn't looking. I don't know. All I remember is what happened next...

She looked at me and screamed, "NO" and then responded to my "Come here" by running to the other end of the children's section. To the Thomas the Train table. She ran to where all of the cliquey mommies congregate after story time. And then she chose one, at random, and HIT her. I was just catching up to her in time to see it, toss a quick apology to the shocked moms sitting in a semi-circle around Sodor, and turn and run after her again as she made her way out of the kids section and towards the front. I was calling for her to stop, counting, threatening, even pleading. It was just a few seconds before I caught up to her and grabbed her hand.

She promptly pulled a spaghetti-legs and dropped to the ground. Nicely played, I thought. Or would have, if I wasn't so angry and embarassed that all I could think about was getting out of the store as quickly as possible. At some point I also thought about how the stroller would have been a better option; instead, after realizing dragging the child would not work, I ended up shifting tiny Little Sis onto one side and carrying Psycho child under the opposite arm, deflecting little (but painful) punches all the way to the car.

There were severe consequences, one of which was that we would not be returning to story time for a LONG time.

Fast forward to this morning: I decided we needed to get out of the house, so we headed to the mall to play in the indoor play area and ride a few of the dimestore type rides. I also had a punch card to get a free pretzel and packed extra empty sippy cups to split a smoothie. Basically, I was planning on letting them have fun, wearing them out and doing it as cheaply as possible! But then I realized it was Wednesday, and that since Barnes & Noble recently moved to the mall, we would be right there during the story-time hour...

... and we did it. We played until it was time to head into the bookstore. I was extra nervous because we had to skip the pretzel (Auntie Ann's is closed. For good. Moment of silence...) and Big Sis is, ahem... unpredictable... when she is hungry. But she was great. An angel. Best behavior. The only glitch was that she had to pee before we finished the craft. But the girls did so well that we actually stayed a little while after storytime to get our smoothie and ride the "merry-go-round."

Big sister might have learned about a witch who made a girl out of cake, but I learned a few things myself today:

1. Since moving to the mall, story time at Barnes & Noble has become quite popular.
   
2. Bugles and apple juice tend to have a more pleasant effect on my children (and, if you ask me, all of the children) than cookies. Especially right before lunch.
3. Leaving the stroller & snacks behind will help you make it to the bathroom much faster. To the sweet mommy who offered to keep an eye on our stuff so that I didn't have to repack everything & buckle in the girls just to make a trip across the store: THANK YOU!
   
4. It is possible to spend more than a few minutes in a store without my children asking me to buy them something. I'm very proud of them!
5. Someone at the bookstore might want to move the craft section a little closer to the storybook section- the early childhood educator in me is pained to see that they are still using coloring sheet art.
6. Little Sister becomes infinitely more affection towards Big Sister in the story time setting. I don't know if she was proud to be with a big kid, or just happy to know someone in the crowd, but she kept rubbing Big Sis' s back and kissing her on her head. I thought it was darling, but Big Sister was annoyed because she was trying to color! Too funny.
7. My relative agoraphobia is a slight (okay, maybe more than slight) over-reaction. If I plan well and do my best to prepare them for what's coming, there is no reason to be fear embarrassment or being shunned by the mommy-clique. Everyone has had moments of crazy children in public. A few had theirs today, and I only felt sympathy, not judgement. I need to work through my fears of going out in public alone with my two children. Especially because:
8. My girls are fabulous. Not only is it unfair for them to miss out on all the fun stuff in our cool town, but it is unfair for our town to miss out on them.

PS- I am great at having temporary revelations. Ask me next week if I went to story time. Hold me accountable!