Wally Ben's First Library Class

We went to Gail Borden’s “Wonderful Ones” class tonight, the first in a series of 6 weekly classes for kids 9-24 months old. The classes are on Thursday from 6:15-6:45, and include 15 minutes of stories, singing, rhymes, and dancing, and then 15 minutes of playtime. They also offer sessions during the day, but we picked the 6:15 time so the whole family could go.

The class included around 12 kids and one or two parents for each kid. We were welcomed by the teacher, who had a name tag already prepared for Wally. It said “Walter,” so she rewrote it to be sure we had it right. (Walter still doesn’t quite fit him. Walter is the nerdy neighbor kid on all the 90s sitcoms. Our little guy is better suited by WV, Wally Five, WallyV, Wally Ben, Monkey, or just plain Wally. We thought about changing the name tag to Monkey, but Wally was the final choice.)

We then were sent to sit in a semi-circle around the teacher. Each baby had their own mini rug, and parents sat behind. Wally was in awe. I don’t think he knew this many babies existed. He sat nicely on the rug, looking around at all the wee wigglers.

Each parent got a program so we could follow along with the singing and rhyming part. The first song started, and it was about how we all are here together, together together. Parents had been instructed to set a good example by paying attention and singing and doing the moves. So I did my part, singing along off the sheet, and it got to a part where it said, “There’s Sammy and Billy and Emma and Sarah,” and I continued singing along, like a good parent should. Then husband Wally said, “and Wally” and the person to the right of us followed with “and Morgan.” And I noticed we weren’t reading off the sheet for this part…each parent, from the four people to our left and now past us, was taking turns saying their child’s name. And here I am singing about Sammy and Billy and Emma and Sarah. Rookie mistake. The rest of the parents continued until we got through everyone, and we moved to the next song. I was relieved to be past that embarrassment. I can’t wait till I get to laugh at the new loser who does that next time!

Wally did pretty well for the songs and rhymes. He has no interest in us making his hands do anything, but he liked watching all the other kids clapping, dancing, and wandering. The teacher read a book, which kept the kid’s attention pretty well. More songs and rhymes, and then another book, and the kids were starting to lose interest. Some were screaming, some reaching for neighbors, some attempting summersaults, some wandering around the room, and some making rain motions with their fingers, not realizing that part of the time was through. This is when I realized why we keep it to 15 minutes.

Then during the 15 minutes of playtime, the teacher took out a bunch of toys and set them in the center of the room. At first Wally just watched the other kids go after the toys, but then a ball rolled his way and he started to play with it. Then he noticed his neighbor, Morgan, had a cool noisemaker. So he took it from him. So husband Wally got Morgan another noisemaker, and Wally Ben took that one also. Wally Ben needs to learn to share. After a few minutes of husband Wally trying to take one of the noisemakers to give back to Morgan, and Wally Ben diving to be sure he had both, Morgan had no interest in the noisemaker anymore. Morgan was a laid back dude. We liked Morgan.

And just like that, playtime was over. Very cool library program. Wally Ben is already looking forward to next week’s Wonderful Ones.