Random Thoughts on Life, Motherhood & Beyond: A Visit to the Library

We were at our 3rd Rhymetime session at the library this morning and I am happy to report that Julien has been awake the whole of the 2nd round and half of this round. I think we must have gained quite a reputation, because even the lady leading the session has noticed us! Or our sleeping baby to be exact. I think she was quite tickled to see our antics to try to wake Jules up. We were swaying him from side to side, waving his hands, clapping his hands, tickling him etc... basically doing all the actions that they were showing. And still Jules slept through it all.

And then, halfway through the session, he sort of roused himself from sleep and just started to open his beady eyes by a wink. And slowly slowly, he opened both eyes, then looked with a sort of puzzlement around, as if asking what is the whole din about. By the time he was fully awake, he has taken in the sounds and was smiling and laughing along with the music and actions.

After the session I took the chance to sign Jules up for the library's Book Crawl Programme. Basically, he gets a certificate every time he finishes 4 books. Daddy Low was really excited for Jules to join this programme, since this was a fond childhood memory of his. (And he is very proud of his book-consumption record when he was young!) Straight after that, we went to choose 4 books for Jules, so that's something nice to do for the cold wintry days coming up!

The highlight of the trip for me was the new step I noticed in Julien's development. Our fren K also likes the library's rhymetime programme and regularly brings her 3 month plus baby girl S to these sessions. When we said goodbye, Julien was actually looking at Baby S and cooing at her. And S stared back at him and smiled. It was so sweet! And so amazing to witness Julien's first awareness of another baby. I wondered what was going through his head, as he looked at S and what he was saying to her when he cooed.

It's interesting how children are drawn to other children, and everyone loves babies, including little children. I remember the last time the Yamasaki twins came, the elder brother seemed to have a soft spot for Julien and came over to the playmat, where Jules was lying. He then touched Jules ever so softly and we taught him how to just lay his hand on Jules's tummy. He did that a few times after that. I am just looking forward now to seeing Julien interacting and playing with other children, and hopefully when we have Nr.2, he will be a nice big brother and treat his little sibling as tenderly.

After his bath today, I read him Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I didn't manage to finish it though, cos he bawled for his milk halfway through. I think we will have another go at it tomorrow. And Daddy can read Jules the book he picked - Daddy, Papa and Me. That's a nice title for some man-to-man time! :)