Those of you who know me in real life know two things about me: I love the TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8, and I always watch TV with the closed captioning on.

In watching some earlier repeats of the above mentioned show, I noticed that group scenes with all 8 kids are often captioned as “indistinct shouting.” I thought that summed it up very nicely.

My favorite addition to my storytime schedule this summer has been “Wee Read,” which is for children 6 months to 2 years old.  There are many reasons why I love these kids and this storytime.

-They are required to have an adult with them, and the adult is required to participate
-They don’t talk back or interrupt me when I’m doing my storytime (this is debatable, but if they do interrupt, it’s not to tell me a story about their pet dog. Let’s just put it that way.)
- I don’t have to plan a craft, because they are too young to understand what a craft is.
-The actual storytime is 15 minutes long. Very short.
-The other 15 minutes is playtime.
-All of them are ridiculously adorable

It’s that last one that really gets me. It’s a very laid back half an hour that requires little strenuous brain activity on my part. After I sing a song, read a book, and do “I’m a little teapot” three times, it’s time to get out the toys and play. My kind of half hour– books, toys, music.

The other very impressive thing about my group is that the parents are AWESOME. They watch all of the children in the group like they are their own, and get along well with each other. I know it sounds corny, but that’s not always the case in storytime. And I feel lucky to have such great people in my group.

And the best part is I get to do it again in the fall :-D