The class clown

Mother Goosed out

We went to the Mother Goose nursery rhyme program today. The teacher said he's going to be the class clown, because he was the only one laughing at the songs. I just don't know if he was laughing with me or at me.

It was worth delaying a nap - it was actually kind of fun. One of the girls from our pre-natal class was there, which was kind of neat. I thought John would be the youngest one there, and that I'd feel stupid (it's open to kids up to two and a half years old) but he was actually right in the middle somewhere. The youngest was a four-month-old, who wasn't having much fun at all. There was a five-month-old, who had to leave right at the start, because it was his naptime too and he wasn't willing to put it off for anything. Then there was John, two seven month-olds, an eight-month old and one lone toddler, who spent the whole time running around the room, playing with the fooz-ball tables. All boys, and John was one of the biggest. He was the same size as the eight-month-old.

I felt stupid not knowing any of the words to the songs, but only the mom beside me knew them all. (She's a real keener. Her son has already taken swimming lessons.) The rest of us kind of mumbled along, pretending to know. I hope they give us a hand-out next week with all the words.

John was a little stunned at first. Before we even had time to get settled on our mat, the eight-month-old crawled right up to him and grabbed his feet. (Seems everyone loves his little elephant shoes!) John was taken back a little - he didn't seem to know how to react. But I was right about his reaction to the crawling - he was riveted by that. One of the seven-month-olds could get on all fours, and he watched him pretty intently too. It definitely planted some ideas in his head. He was pushing to be let onto the floor the whole time (he rarely likes to be on the floor, much less pulls to be put down onto it.) When he was there, he went right up on his hands, and tried to wiggle his behind, while pulling ahead with his arms, which he's never done before. It didn't get him anywhere, but I could see his gears working overtime while he watched the others scootching around. You're never too young for peer pressure.

He stayed in a great mood, considering how tired he must have been. We even ran errands afterwards. He brightened the mood of a very long line at the bank, with his giggles and raspberries. He had most of the line giggling along with him. He even held it together at the grocery store and flirted with a lady who stopped to say hello - her son was a redhead too (he's 20 now). At home, he erupted into fits of giggles when I put him down to sleep - that's usually the sign of a really fun day, so I think he enjoyed himself at the program.