Valentine's Day Craft at the Library

Tuesday night's Pajama Time at the library included a craft. Now that Jacob and Lucy are going to PJ time, we get twice the craftiness to bring home. I didn't go to the library, but I got to take these sweet pictures when Mommy and the kids got home:

Lucy is unsure of how to present her craft.

Jacob also doesn't seem to know which end is up!

Close up of the floor model.

 The theme was Hugs (as a lead-in to Valentine's Day, no doubt). Both children had a good time and Mommy reports that they were well behaved too. Hopefully we'll get to PJ Time on Thursday and have another craft to show off!

First Library Visit of 2011

Friday we went to story time at our favorite branch of the Howard County Library, Savage Library. And our favorite librarian, Miss Ellie, ran the show. We were very happy for the old, familiar things.

"Snow" was the word of the day. One of the books Miss Ellie read was Ezra Jack Keats' "The Snowy Day," which Jacob immediately recognized. He shouted out, "We have that book." Jacob was happy to hear that story again. If only he had some enthusiasm for singing songs and dancing during story time. But at the end, we had a craft to do. Jacob was super enthusiastic for it. We glued a tree and snow flakes to a plate. Then we went to a sparkle station to sprinkle glitter on the plate. The glue pick up quite a bit and it came out pretty well. Jacob looks pretty serious about it. Lucy helped out too. She pointed to where we should put the snow flakes.

We look forward to many more visits to the library this year!

Halloween Library Storytime

Tonight I was lucky enough to take Jacob to the Pajama Time story time at the Savage Branch of the Howard County Library. The theme tonight (as you may have guessed from your calendar or from the blog title) was Halloween.

We arrived a little bit late. As we entered, we discovered that Miss Rita had a partner who was translating the books into American Sign Language. Thus we learned signs for orange, black, bat, pumpkin, and a whole host of other spooky words. The story time was almost completely stories, i.e. we didn't sing or dance. But there was a craft!

We formed a big circle and the assistant handed out supplies. We got a purple paper plate, orange yarn, a cardboard bat, a cardboard pumpkin, a cardboard bat, and a cloud with "Happy Halloween" written on it. Jacob grabbed a glue stick and we attached the cloud to the middle of the plate. Then we had to tie the orange yarn to each of the decorations (they had holes punched in them) and then to hole in the bottom of the plate. Getting yarn through a hole was pretty tricky, but Jacob succeeded more often than not. Sometimes he would just get a little bit of yarn in and then let go. The decoration would fall and pull the yarn back out. Luckily, Jacob didn't get frustrated, we just laughed over it. I had to tie the knots since we haven't taught Jacob that yet. When we got home, we showed it off to Mommy:

The bat is hiding behind the pumpkin for some reason!

Busy week at the library!

Actually, it's been a busy week at several libraries. We started with with the end of last week, where Jacob's latest craftiness produced these wonderful sheep at Pajama Time:

Jacob has to protect the sheep from the hungry dinos on his pj's

Jacob's picture shows the sheep a little better & juxtaposed with a random toy on the floor

Our next library adventure was on Monday. We went to Storyville in Woodlawn with Granny. See the photos here, since too many were taken to post on the blog. Jacob had a great time in spite of accidentally biting his lip while removing the drum. He got a little bloody. The family bathroom was no help since it was too environmentally friendly to have paper towels or tissues. I had to use a wipe from our diaper bag to clean up the blood. He really enjoyed working the grill and the cash register, which I guess means a fast food restaurant career is not out of the question. Maybe it'll be his day job to support his drumming passion.

Today (Thursday, September 30, 2010) we went to 3, 2, Fun at the East Columbia Branch of our local library. We were supposed to get a ticket from the children's desk to let us in, but we went the wrong way so Jacob could see photocopiers and the globe. An announcement on the library's PA system caught Jacob's interest and we ran into one of the children's librarians who helped convince Jacob it would be fun. We made it to the room a little late--Jacob still had to stop at every copier along the way and got two drinks from the water fountain before we made it to the right room. The theme was zoos. A story about ordering a pet from a zoo kept both Jacob and Lucy enraptured. Jacob also played along with "Old MacDonald" and a couple of other songs. At the end, he got his usual hand stamp on a piece of paper. While Jacob and I were busy negotiating that with the librarian, Lucy started cleaning up the room! She took all the bean bags that were on the floor and put them on a table. Lucy probably got us a guaranteed ticket to come back to story time at any time, ticket or no. Good job, Lucy!

Taken Home from the Library

Last week Jacob made it through another craft and came out smiling. The theme of pajama time was Grandparents. The craft was a hug:

The barely visible text is "I love you this much!"

Jacob tried to model it for me when he got home:

Check out the heart hiding behind the left hand!

It's a little big to hold out easily but he was very proud. He hasn't decided which grandparent to give it to. Possibly he'll forget about it before he sees any of them.

The day after Jacob's craft, I received an email from the staff at East Columbia. I had been participating in the summer reading program, submitting the titles I've been reading along with short reviews. At the end of the summer, they drew for prizes, and I won a tote bag full of books and other fun items:

What a haul!

Six books, three post-it note pads, a reading light, a lanyard, two CDs of audio book samples, a notebook, a key ring, a free ticket to Toby's Dinner Theater, a bookmark, a carbine clip, and (of course) a tote bag. Pretty awesome! I'll definitely participate next year.

We may have to bring Lucy to the next craft...

Has jealousy reared its ugly head in our home?

Two weeks ago, Jacob made a craft at the library's pajama time. The theme was reptiles and the craft was making a snake. Snake making turns out to be quite easy, following these four simple steps:

1. Take a colored paper plate.
2. Cut it in a spiral. 
3. Paste on two yellow circles for eyes.
4. Paste on some red yarn for the tongue. 

The helpful librarians completed the first two steps for Jacob. All he needed was a little glue and the gumption (and help from Mommy). He brought the snake home, as proud as could be.

The next day, Lucy got a hold if it and tore him limb from limb. At least it would have been limb from limb if snakes had any limbs. Here's a reconstruction of Snakey, post-Lucy:

Okay, maybe treading on me wouldn't have been so bad.

Try as I might, I could not put Snakey back together again. It's just as well, since we probably would have a strict "No Reptiles" policy in the house if we thought about it.

Tonight, pajama time was craftless. Jacob still managed to come home with something, though. He habitually checks the vending machine slots at the library. My impression is that he thinks they are buttons needing pushing. Today, he found two cents:

Watch this magic trick!

Jacob's will probably ask to go to the mall tomorrow so he can throw the pennies into a fountain. Surely that's a better fate than what Lucy might have in store.

Crafts at the Library

Jacob has wholeheartedly embraced making crafts at the library. Tuesday night he went with Mommy to Pajama Time at the Savage branch. This week's program included an ocean theme and a craft. Consider the result, dubbed "Jellyfish #1" by the artist's wily PR department:

It's a fine piece of work if you ask me, not even considering the two and a half year old nature of the artist. Consider the undulations of the tentacles and how the eyes follow you where ever you go in the room. The masterwork has already found its place on the highest shrine of pre-school art, the refrigerator. Jacob was quite enthused about the results as well:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever--J. Keats

On Thursday, Jacob went with Daddy to Pajama Time, again at Savage library with the ocean theme and craft included. Here is his second effort, captured from the artist's own perspective:

The highchair may not have had the best angle

Lacking inspiration from his Oahu t-shirt and the guiding hand of Mommy, this work is considered less accomplished and thus is named "Jellyfish #2." Notice the muted colors in the tentacles and how the eyes follow each other. Nevertheless, he swims with his older brother on the refrigerator.

The time has come, I suppose, to expand Jacob's craft experiences beyond the library and onto other venues. Lowe's and Trader Joe's awaits. Recommendations are welcome.