Rhyme Time

In the wee hours of the morning I awoke to yelling and banging. My first thought was "Someone in a neighboring flat has fallen down the stairs." As I rolled over in bed I realized John wasn't there. So my next thought was "John has fallen down the stairs." I lay there waking up and trying to decide what to do because if John wasn't seriously hurt he would probably rather I ignore his fall. Then I remembered why John wasn't in bed. He was staying up to watch the presidential debate. 9pm Eastern standard time. 2am our time. I asked myself for a moment if anything else could cause yelling and banging. Myself answered yes. I decided, while lying in the dark of the bedroom upstairs, that John was trying to keep himself occupied until the debate started by playing Mario Kart. And he was losing. I opened the bedroom door and came down the stairs where I did not find John in a pitiful pile of arms and legs. I opened the door to the living room to find John playing Mario Kart with the television volume down very low. I told him I had come to turn the radiators down. Oh and also, his Mario Kart exclamations had made me think he had fallen down the stairs. I didn't hear him again.

This afternoon I went to a Tiny Tots Rhyme Time in the children's area of the Millennium Library. I just observed today but I will be helping out with some Rhyme Times in the future. The children in attendance were infants and toddlers. So, some of them said the rhymes and did the actions along with the librarians, and some bounced on mum's knee while she helped them out. The program was all rhymes with one board book of the Incey Wincey Spider. The librarians handed out some rattles and other noise making devices at the beginning and also handed puppets and stuffed animals to the children after they were done using them during the program. When it was over they collected everything. Rhyme Time started with quieter finger play rhymes and progressed to marching and wiggly jiggly rhymes. I recognized about half of them, but even of the ones I knew there were usually some differences.

I like horsey rhymes, so I'll transcribe for you the one we did today (new to me):

Horsey Horsey, don't you stop
Just let your feet go clipperty clop
Your tail goes swish
And the wheels go round
Giddy up, we're homeward bound

Horsey Horsey, on your way
You've made the journey many a day
Your tail goes swish
And the wheels go round
Giddy up, we're homeward bound

On Friday I am going to pirate party to celebrate National Bookstart Day. The National Bookstart program provides free books to children, and they have just added a new package for preschool age children that looks like a treasure chest.

While I was at the library I was also able to check out my first books (since my library card finally arrived in the mail this week). I got Just Henry by Michelle Magorian. (Expect a review of this book in my other blog.) Just Henry is on a reading list for a young adult reading group I will be attending in November. I discovered that the Millennium Library has a huge music collection so I also checked out a guitar book, just to mix things up with my regular practice.