Saturdays

Saturdays Zorah has a class called Imagination Station at the community center. In theory, the kids visit a country each week and learn a little about it while doing crafts. In reality, the kids color xerox pictures of a nation's flag, a food, a map representation of the country, and a cultural item. Afterwards, they do a craft. They don't really learn a lot about a country this way. However, Zorah has fun. She likes the teacher, and -- most of the time -- she likes the kids. That's enough for me.

On paper, the class runs from 10:30am to 12pm. Since there is only so much time you can take coloring pictures that are at most 3" x 5" with used crayons, we usually get out anywhere from 15-30 minutes early. This leaves us the perfect amount of time to get to storytime at Barnes & Noble.

For any other kid her age, Barnes & Noble storytime would be like heaven in a bookstore. Somebody reads to you, and gives you a sugary Starbucks decaf treat and a bag of chocolate chip cookies.

Zorah doesn't eat sugar if at all avoidable. She politely refuses the proferred crap or says "Yuck" depending on the day. Nevertheless, B&N storytime is still heaven in a bookstore for her. Why? Because there are books! Occasionally she just forgoes storytime completely and chooses her own reading materials. One day I think we spent 4.5 hours in the store reading, with a break for a bagel and cream cheese from the cafe.

On this day, however, Zorah decided to participate, the results being this video and a bookmark made of paper and those foam stickers I have been seeing everywhere lately.