The Scariest Thing at the Library Part II

Like any good sequel, we up the ante for this post about Jacob's visit to a holiday themed library program for pre-schoolers. Last time, the second-billed star was Frosty the Snowman, now we have that jolly old elf, Santa Claus, visiting the Savage branch of the Howard County public library. How did it turn out? Read on....

This trip to the library was like most others. Getting the kids ready meant one last diaper change before leaving (and one last opportunity to adjust outfits, e.g. Jacob was still in his pajamas up to that point). We packed up in the van and daddy remembered almost everything. The forgotten item was the presents for the Marshalls, whom we were going to visit after the library. Whoops! We'll see them again soon.

Arriving at the library. we went in and headed to the children's desk to sign in for the program. The nice lady looked up Jacob's name and checked him off. She offered to stamp his hand which he adamantly refused to accept. The nice lady (who must have experienced this sort of reaction before) kindly said it was alright and to have a good time at the program. Jacob's behavior did not bode well, in my opinion. We walked over to the play area where Jacob played and I picked out new puzzles to replace the ones we returned. Then the bell rang, signaling the time to gather for stories.

We walked into the meeting room. Before Jacob could sit down, the story lady (someone different from the lady at the desk) started handing out jingle bells and a song. Jacob actually stood for the song and did a little bit of the dancing and other choreography that she was leading. He turned around; he rang the bells high and low. This did bode well, in my opinion. She continued with the usual blend of stories, songs and activities. Once Jacob sat in my lap, however, that was the end of his visible participation in the program. He did enjoy it though.

Then craft time came. This week's craft was pretty simple: each child received a set of stickers (with gingerbread men and such) and a red cardboard square with a ribbon through it. The child put the stickers on the ornament. I've come to the conclusion that the only problem is that Jacob thinks the word "craft" is a four-letter word of the unrepeatable variety. He had no interested in an extremely simple craft, the like of which he has done at home. He protested with his usual, "No, no, No, NOOOO!" with a "want to go back to car!" thrown in for good measure.

I told him Santa was coming, so he waited for a little bit. Santa waited a little bit longer to show up, so we were already out the door and back in the main library before he went into the meeting room. Luckily, he did his bit pretty quickly and then went to another room for pictures with the kids. Jacob, Lucy and I were first in line (everyone else was still crafting, I guess). So in we went. Jacob was unsure of what to do. I told him to give Santa a high five before I was ready with the camera, so this was the result:

The children's desk librarian was there and offered to take a picture of all three of us with Santa. By this point Jacob was done with this activity too, chiming in with his "No, no, No, NOOOO! Want to go back to car!" I wrestled him into position and we got this shot:


Just in case you can't see it, here is the look of consternation at lack of immediate departure:


Once I told him we were leaving, Jacob did say goodbye to Santa and high fived him again. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good visit to the library. If only we could have been good Santas and delivered our presents to the Marshalls, the would have been an even greater success.