Storytellers

This week Annie and I tried something that we have never tried before.  Story time at the local public library.

Scrunch face!

We arrived a little late but didn't miss out on the fun.  There were plenty of parents there and lots of toddlers.  They were reading stories about dogs.  Dancing and singing seemed to be on the docket more than actual stories and the kids were encouraged to get up and move their bodies.  Get out their wiggles, if you will.

Annie wasn't too keen on letting her guard down in front of all those people.  She eventually moved off of my lap and onto the floor, but no singing or clapping happened.  She's a shy girl.

After reading our stories about dogs and singing songs about smashed bananas, we checked out our own books.  Of course we got the necessary non-fiction books about dinosaurs, but we also found some good ones about monsters, dogs, cats, and airplanes.

I love reading stories to my kids, but I'm no storyteller.  To me, a storyteller is someone who can tell you a story without a book and with so much emotion and detail that you feel as if you were there in the story all along.  I can't even remember how the Three Billy Goats Gruff ends.  Heck, I can't even get the punchlines to jokes right...

But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try.  And it doesn't mean that I shouldn't encourage my kids to do their best to tell their own stories.

So that is what I will work on for next time (or just some time in the future).  I'll try to have Orry tell you the story about his "black eye".

I doubt Annie is going to be telling too many stories just yet, but maybe I can challenge Orry to tell this story from Annie's point of view.

And Isaac...well...

Maybe we'll just have to settle for stories from Orry...