Fin's First Reading Time

Occasionally when I'm telling some interesting story about something that has happened or some adventure we've been on, people tell me I should be writing these things down for a book or something some day. Usually I just laugh, but we had an experience today that was too much not to share!

So it's been 110 degrees here for the past week. It's just stupid hot. Even the pool is hot. I decided this morning that Fin and I would get going early and go to the bookstore to pick out some new books so we have something to look forward to while we hide inside all afternoon. So at 9:15 we left the house for our adventure.

(As a peripherally interesting note, there is a man-made lake which runs into the corner of McBean and Newhall Ranch where it meets a fake little lighthouse. As we were sitting at the corner waiting on the light, I looked over and there was our homeless guy - there are two of them that live in Valencia and we see everywhere - with his pants rolled up to his knees IN THE LAKE. This lake is dirty nasty and yucky and very much not for swimming. And he has some kind of remote control boat? Light change, moving on...)

We arrive at Barnyard and Nosehole* and I decided to get some coffee before shopping. While waiting for my tall nonfat white chocolate mocha with no whip, I read the "Events" board. "Every Monday at 10am toddler storytime!"...watch check...9:30. Yay! I've been wanting to take Fin to one of these, so I felt like it just might be my lucky day. The woman who works the children's section and reads the books is super animated and reads with the voices and reminds me how much I used to love it when my mom read to me. Perfect, we can shop and then have storytime. Fin likes books that make mommy count. For some reason, listening to mommy count or seeing mommy in her underpants while trying on clothes are two things that just send him into giggle-fits. So we go on a hunt for counting books and other interesting (read: clearance) finds.

Finally they announce that it's storytime and we cruise over, stroller full of books, to the story area. I should mention that I have some concerns because 1) Fin has the worst case of sleepy eyes ever and 2) His new favorite thing is to scream at the top of his lungs. Not the "help, I'm being eaten by a lion" scream, just a joyful "I found my inner volume button" scream. I have to admit that I kindof like it, just not so much for storytime. We arrive at the story corner and join about 15 other kids all wiggly with anticipation. Fin and I stay in the back just in case we need to make a speedy exit. Then they introduce today's special guest story-teller.

Now, before I tell you what happened next, I have to add the disclaimer that I am not prejudiced and I certainly don't want Fin to grow up with any preconceived notions about any groups of people. But I also have to say that Fin, I think like most kids, has to be read to with a Broadway-worthy performance to keep his attention.

So our guest story teller is about 14 or 15 years old, severely disabled and in a motorized wheel chair. She begins by telling the children that there were accidents when she was born and so she has Cerebral palsy which is why she speaks funny and needs a wheelchair to get around. Meanwhile, the children have all been given coloring pages to tie in with the book we're about to read and are paying NO attention to the poor girl. This is when she decides to give a wheel chair demonstration. She is approximately a foot and a half in front of the children...who are coloring and paying little attention. So when they hear a motor fired up and see a scary stranger lurching loudly and quickly at them, pandemonium erupts. One child screams, all children scream and suddenly everyone is clamoring for mom's laps' which of course makes Fin scream since he thinks it's all fun. I wish I'd had a video camera, but this is where the tape would end anyway.Fin wanted to scream some more and it was very clear that it was going to take some time for all the mom's to calm down the terrified kids and assure them that everything would be fine, so we made a hasty exit.

Maybe we'll try again next week!

(*name changed to protect the store)