Flash Memoir: My first puppet show

Yesterday my daughter and I took Jack to the library for a program. The Music Lady was there as well as a roomful of toddlers. I’ve been at the forefront of taking Jack to the library for storytime—ever since the first disastrous beginning. That first time was pure toddler chaos: hugging other children to the ground, trying to share bottles, picking up other’s people cellphones and carrying them around. The fact that there was a program or agenda meant nothing to Jack.

This was my daughter’s first program at the library for Jack. She was horrified by how unfocused he was. Of course, there were other children equally unfocused and not listening. That’s why I’m committed to taking him—to socialize him to the idea of programs, structure, on the art of listening.

Some mornings go better than others.

She came away dejected—“he’ll never be ready for nursery school!”

Maybe not, but I remembered a time when I was quite young, when I went to my first puppet show. I’m not sure where it was at or why because my mother rarely took us kids anywhere. Special outings were not her thing. I can’t even remember if my sister Nancy was with us or if it was just me—my older brothers would have been in school or not interested in a kiddie puppet show. We were at a theater with a stage, and somehow I understood this was a puppet show. But, oh, how the other children acted. Like banshees, like unformed matter, like atoms bouncing around an accelerator, like bugs in a jar. More than the puppet show, I remember feeling embarrassed by a little boy who tried to climb onto the stage, who kept addressing the puppets as if they were real. Even as a toddler myself, I was like—oh no, this kid doesn’t have a clue. I might have tried to leave my seat to tell him to stop acting up . . .

I know I was always getting into trouble for trying to direct other children—much like Jack. In kindergarten I was always the one being shushed at naptime for talking or fidgeting or during storytime for being disruptive. I was the world’s worst at following directions. And, it’s not like I improved with age. But I did make it through school, life, relationships. I wasn’t sentenced to goof-ball puppet prison.

I told her Jack was going to be all right.