• The librarian begins with a little hand rhyme “Fee Fi Fo Fum, See my fingers, see my thumb,” but your daughter loudly continues from the original fairy-tale: “I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN! BE HE ALIVE OR BE HE DEAD, I’LL GRIND HIS BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD!” The 2- and 3-year-olds seem taken aback by this turn of events.
• The group delights in going faster and faster in “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” You realize as you fling your aging body up and down you are moments away from passing out from a head-rush. You suspect this will taint the story-time experience for everyone else.
• While the rest of the group sings along to “The Wheels On The Bus,” getting to “the wipers on the bus” and “the baby on the bus,” your daughter decides to make up her own verses about the cat and dog on the bus which involve loudly yowling and woofing. The librarian seems to be a stickler for classic lyrics.
• The librarian is happily reading a book about a farmer collecting apples with a duck. Your daughter is ignoring this story in favor of flipping through the library book about insects she has brought in herself, and keeps showing you pictures and asking “WHY DO BLOOD-SUCKING BUGS SUCK BLOOD?” The other children and their parents would seem to prefer to focus on the apple-picking duck.
SEP
2025
About the Author:
Eric Coble is a Tony-, Pulitzer- and Emmy-nominated playwright who lives in Cleveland. After raising two children to adulthood he and his wife are now raising toddler "Lightning Bug”. His stories are all true.