Library
Today began with a trip to the library. Before the library trip was all the normal dragging kids out of bed, feeding breakfast, and dropping at school. That doesn’t count as the beginning of the day because for all of that I run on autopilot. The beginning of the day is when I take a breath and contemplate what to do with the two hours before I have to collect Gleek. Today I spent half of that time at the Library. Patches went with me. He was not enthusiastic about the library trip. “Libwawies are bowing.” He informed me. But I enticed him by telling him he could put all of the books into the return slot. He thought that was pretty cool. Patches was much more interested in exploring the building than in selecting books. So we wandered all over the library. Every stair had to be climbed. Every elevator required a ride. The stepping stones in the courtyard all had to be jumped upon. As we passed through the areas of the library that I needed, we would pause the exploration long enough for me to grab a few books. Then we capped off the visit by using the self-checkout machine. Patches thought that was really cool. He says we need to use it every time. As we left the library I asked if he still thought that libraries are boring. “No. They’we intwesting.” Score one for future literacy.
I plan to take my kids to the library often this summer. This will be a significant change since I’ve only been inside the library five times in the past year. Three of those times were in the last two months. We stopped going in part because trying to keep track of 4 children inside a library was exhausting. I’m using today’s experience and trying to plan how I can make it work. Patches obviously needs to explore. I suspect Gleek will need the same. Kiki will quickly load up her bag and arms with all the books she can carry. Link will have to be coerced into picking at least 3 books. I want to be able to select books for the three kids who won’t pick them at the library, but who want to have books to read when they are at home. I think the plan has me trailing Gleek and Patches while Kiki picks out books. Then she can watch them in the enclosed courtyard while I go select books. The library trips will not be relaxing for me, but I think they’ll be necessary for the children.