ANOTHER CROWDED STORY TIME

The special guests are rolling out fast and furious at Barnes and Noble lately. Although nothing has yet to compare with the crowds drawn by Curious George (he even beat out the city's opera company performing a kiddie version of "The Magic Flute"), we had strain our necks for the appearance of Winnie-the-Pooh this past weekend.

Miss Ruthie, the lucky Barnes and Noble employee who is in charge of Story Time and other reading groups for kids from toddler through high school, picked the shortest Pooh story she could find. She began reading at the top of her lungs about Pooh visiting Rabbit and getting stuck in Rabbit's hole. But, the electricity running through those little toddler and pre-school bodies was too much competition for her; she glossed over the end of the story and brought out Pooh.

We waited (not so) patiently in line for our chance to get our picture taken with Pooh. Bean kept lamenting, "It's taking such a long time!" That always prompts me to sing "Have Patience" from that great 70's album "The Music Machine." I usually only have to sing it once, and my kids stop complaining so they don't have to hear me sing it again.

As an aside, I never thought I would live to see the day that I would belt out toddler music in very public and crowded venues without a care for who was listening. As it is, you can hear me at any given moment singing the Alphabet Song at the top of my lungs in the supermarket.

So, after a rousing chorus of "Have Patience," it was finally our turn to pose with Pooh. Surprisingly, Cakes didn't scream in abject terror. She was even willing to pose without a parental figure close at hand in case of emergency.

As you can see, she still kept her distance. But, there was no screaming, and she was so proud of herself for being so brave!