Milk and Books

One of the reasons that we were late for our own party (see last post) is that one of our favorite children's book authors was doing a reading at our local bookstore.

Jane Yolen has written many books for a variety of ages, but in our house she is most famous for How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, which, along with The Going To Bed Book, plays a key role in our bedtime ritual.



So I took Brynna to the store for the reading. She sat happily on my lap for approximately one half of one story, then looked up at me and made the sign for milk.

Me: "Brynna, look at the story! Look, dinosaurs!"

Brynna: (opens and closes fists)

Me: "Want to stand up on my lap and see better? Listen to the story!"

Brynna: (opens and closes fists more vigorously, adds insistent grunting)

Me: "you want some milk? Now? You don't usually nurse in the middle of the afternoon!"

Brynna: (throws herself backward so she is laying down on my lap)

Me: "oh, OK, OK" (hikes up sweater and shirt and tries to find way to discreetly nurse in back row of book signing)

One minute later:

Brynna: "done" (wipes hands together)

Me: "OK, let's sit up and listen to the story!"

Thirty seconds later:

Brynna: (makes sign for milk again, moves straight on to insistent grunting)

Me: "again? really?"

Brynna: (signs more vigorously, bounces up and down on lap)

So we got up and went to seek out a more comfortable place to nurse. One of the bookstore employees told us that there was a comfy chair back in the children's section, so we headed back there and got settled in to nurse.

Brynna nursed for another minute or two, then sat up and slid off my lap. I stood up, took her hand, and we started back toward the crowd. Brynna stopped, looked up at me, and signed "milk" again.

So we went and sat back down in our nursing chair, nursed for about thirty seconds, and then Brynna signed "done" and got down again. Once again, we headed back toward the front of the store. And once again, Brynna stopped me and asked to nurse!

I have no idea what was going on. Perhaps it's just such a novelty to have me around in the middle of the afternoon (I've been working six days a week, mostly) that she thought she'd better take advantage? Or maybe dinosaurs make her hungry?

We did come away with a copy of How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food:


...but it doesn't seem to mention repeated speed-nursing bouts at author signings.