How to charge the babies (energy wise)

I have successfully written and performed my first two independent Babygarten classes (a reading, rhyming, and listening storytime for babies 0 to 18 months). Both times I nearly ran out of breath from talking so fast and performing the rhymes (especially the stand up ones). I can never tell if the parents are enjoying what I'm doing except through verbal cues. One parent sighed in relief after we completed our Stand Up Rhymes today. I didn't know if he was relieved to put down his heavy child or if he was tired of it. Parents who don't want to do the stand up rhymes can always sit down, but I may cut back on the number that I do. The last two times two parents (out of 44 and 65 of the class #s) came up and said "Thank you." to me afterward.

My philosophy is to keep the Babygarten as highly energized as possible, but then I'm afraid I get the kids too wound up. I did pull a trick from my co-worker Jennifer and that's to start singing a rhyme as I'm collecting toys to focus everyone's attention back to me so we could do more rhymes. The kids were starting to get restless by the end so I cut a few songs and went straight to the toys. The children seem to be happiest when there's music playing so perhaps more songs? I don't like creating a mellow environment for the babies because I find that boring and it should be reserved for Lullaby Storytimes.

Any advice you, dear reader, can give on how to focus your child's attention or what works best when them when it comes to books, or through your experience with similar storytime formats would be helpful and immensely appreciated.

Why I'm here

Volunteering for Maryland Day at the University of Maryland this afternoon, I was confronted with one of the reasons why I decided to become a librarian in the first place. On the second leg of my volunteer stint I joined two graduate students in front of Hornbake. There was a carpet set up, a swivel chair, and a ring of books to be read. I picked up a few and read it to a very critical audience of a two-year old girl. A Spanish girl joined us a few minutes later, but she wanted to leave halfway through the story. The next group of girls were two boys and a girl. Their parents stared at me as I read a Chinese fable about how there is only one sun in the sky. The kids were very quiet and transfixed as I read, though I'm not sure if they were actually hearing what I was saying. I tried to engage them with voices and read the story slowly. That look on their face, transfixed, their eyes wide as I read made me realize why I love being a librarian and why I still want to work with kids one day, hopefully with a more participatory group, though.