Total Bust

A few weeks ago I mentioned how I signed Cole up for the Summer Reading Program at the library.  We were to record all the books we read him and turn it in.  25 books would qualify him for the end of the program hotdog feed.

There was a special prize for the person who read the most books in each age category.  And, of course, you could only record each book once.

Cole and I read books...a lot!  A lot!  Three times a day before sleep and then in between times.  And we read lots of books.

We read the same books over and over and often not all the words, as his little hands love to flip those pages.

It took all that was in me not to be super competitive and push him to read books he didn't care to or to make him stay on the page while I read all the words, so I could count it (or worse yet, count the book even though we didn't really read it ALL).  Ha!

So, we, actually I, had this in my mind for the whole month of June, turned in our list of 27 or 28 different books by the deadline, and turned down other plans to participate in the long-awaited, much-anticipated hotdog feed.

And it was a bust.  A total bust.  What was I thinking?

Cole doesn't even really like hotdogs.  He hadn't had a nap that morning yet (I was still thinking he might be only needing one in the afternoon).  He was the youngest one there.  We were sitting on the floor.  He was all over the place.  Grabbing cookies off other kids' plates.  Not eating anything off his (except for the cookie).  They sat in a circle and planted seeds.  He knocked over a few cups with dirt in it.  He wandered around in the library and pulled books off shelves (he seems to get more hyper, more destructive when he's tired) faster than I could put them back.  And then the lady started reading a nonfiction picture book about Thomas Jefferson.  And that was it.  We had to leave.

I don't know what I was picturing taking my sleep deprived 14 month old baby to the library with all those older kids - accepting his gold star while he sat peacefully next to me on the floor munching on his hotdog mesmerized and entertained by all the kids while I had engaging conversation with the other moms in attendance - but it didn't happen.

I even went back out to the truck to get my phone to take pictures of what was sure to be a delightful time that I'd want to share with you on this blog and never had a chance to get my phone out of my pocket in all the craziness.

Ha!  I'm starting to understand why some veteran moms don't do this stuff.  Chalk it up as a learning experience.

(Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to stop - just will have more realistic expectations next time!)