The Library

This morning the kids went back to school (hooray!).  On my mile-long list of errands was a trip to the library to pick up a book I'd requested and to get some new books for Ella who is devouring all books, especially those early stage readers, at an amazing pace.  She had requested some more Mr. Putter and Tabby stories so I picked out a pile for her.  And then I did something I have never done before in all the years I have been to the library with my kids.  I left behind the section with the kids books, the train table, and the crayons.  I walked to the other side of the library.  The side where they apparently keep books for adults, books that don't feature Curious George or talking chickens or pictures of the eight (not nine!) planets.  I spent 20 minutes browsing in the fiction section and then more in the non-fiction section. There's not a chance in the world that I will read all of the books I picked up in the next 3 weeks before they are due back, but I don't care.  It was delightful. 

Why have I never been to the other side of the library before?  Well, I know the answer to that.  It's because I find taking my kids to the library to be more chore than fun.  They love books and I love having new books in the house for them to read.  But I find the actual visit to the library to be rather stressful.  All those rows make it really easy to lose a small person.  Ella manages to find every book with a character - Dora, Elmo, Princesses - that I try as a rule to avoid.  And Dash is the king of rapid unshelving of books.  Add in the need to be somewhat quiet combined with Dash's single volume of speech (i.e. loud, as we learned in church on Christmas Eve this year).  So I have just learned to request my own books online so when I get to the library, they are waiting for me in a neat pile with my name on them by the door.  Then I can just take the kids into the library quickly, pull out a bunch of kids books, grab my own stack, and head out on our way. 

But I feel kind of bad about this.  I loved the library as a kid and I want to support my kids' deep love of reading.  And this morning taught me that I miss browsing for books for myself, in person rather than in the online card catalog, more than I knew. Maybe it gets easier as the kids get older and they spend less time unshelving and talking loudly.  Maybe I just need to go to the library as a 'me' activity more often.  Maybe both.  But at least now I have a nice new stacks of books to enjoy and so do Ella and Dash.

My reading girl

Christmas is over

This morning, we walked out of the house and Dash saw the Christmas trees in the back of our gardening truck, ready to be taken and turned into mulch.  He looked up at me and said with great sorrow in his voice, "Cwis-mus is ov-ah."  And then he asked "Why?" 

Happy New Year's Eve!

I fully admit that I am way behind on keeping up this blog.  I read the phrase "Halloween to Holidays Death Spiral" to describe the madness that moms endure (create?) from the end of October through December, and while I wouldn't go quite that.... colorful... in my description of the last few weeks, we have had quite the whirlwind of holidays from Dash's birthday party right up to today.  I have a thousand holiday pictures to edit and a million sweet and funny and ridiculous stories to tell.  Soon.  For now, though, my little family of 4 just ate a cozy, quiet dinner at our newly small dining room table (the extra leaf and all the extra chairs having been put away this morning) and talked about the turning of the new year at midnight.  Our across the street neighbors seem to have raised a sparkling ball high up in the trees which we all loved watching sparkle while we ate.  I bet they will drop it at midnight but I will be long asleep by then.  No big parties for us tonight but hopefully just a long restorative sleep and waking up to a new, happy, healthy, and exciting year. 

Happy New Year!

The view from our front porch this evening.