So, as many of you know, my family has been in transition. You would think a month out from moving day I would be settled, organized and back to normal. Um, well, not exactly. Our move is of the temporary sort, which according to some report my Dad read about, adds us to the list of growing homeless people. Yeah. Living with your family members in a home that is not your own, is technically considered homeless. Where’s my handout? Just kidding. We are settling in to the spidery basement (just killed two yesterday) and are making some progress in finding a home. Did I mention we have to wait for the State Board of Education to approve my husband’s full time employment? Red tape. (sigh).
Since I can’t seem to find many of our things when I am looking for them (still have boxes all over the place- I don’t want to repack everything when we move again), I decided to bring sanity back to my life. So we took a trip to the library to get library cards and books. We got a card at the County library, figuring that that would be a safe bet for when we find a new house and move. It was a fun, lovely, family affair that consisted of lots of library-inappropriate noise after we all got new cards:
Child #1: “LOOK!!!! They have Star Wars the Clone Wars!!! AWESOME!!!”
Child # 2: “I just found Pokemon, and the Secrets of Droon!”
Both together at the top of their lungs: “YEAH!!!!!!! All Right, this is awesome!”
To top it all off Child #3, who recently found a very loud voice after almost two and a half years of grunts and simple signs, went running wildly among the aisles until he found a pteranadon hanging from the ceiling and then shouted:
“A WANT A DINOSAUR BOOK DAD! A WANT A T-REX BOOK DAD! RAWR! RAWR! RAWR! A T-REX BOOK, DAT ONE, DAT ONE . . . HELP ME!!!! I NEED DAT DINO ONE BOOK!!!!”
and on and on and on.
I took a deep breath and felt that I was truly getting settled in. Nothing like a library to make you feel at home. Of course, then I tracked down the munchkins and reminded them a million times to, “keep it down, use your inside voice, we are in the library!” I guess, in a way it’s my fault for making them go a couple of weeks without a trip to the library. Actually, it wasn’t as long for them as it was for me. The first day the older two went to their new school it was library day for each of them. So they both came home with new library books to read within a week of moving. For my oldest child, his books were a coping mechanism for moving. He read at recess until he’d made friends with other kids (thank goodness “How to Eat Fried Worms didn’t scare him to pieces about moving), and now he just whizzes through his school work so that he can get to the ‘drop everything and read’ program, which he really enjoys.
I have always wanted to foster a love of reading in my children and I wondered if they would ever transition from kids who like going to the library because they can see their friends at storytime, to kids who just plain like going to the library because they love books. I think we’ve made it. But I’m not backing off- heaven knows we can’t have anyone changing their minds about loving books in my house!
How have books and libraries helped your family?
I’ve taken Jack a few times but it’s more work for me than fun. I chase him around putting back all the books he pulls out. we’ll re-visit the library this summer when temps reach 115* and we are ban to indoor activities. good luck with the house hunting. sorry it’s taken so long. how are you surviving without your husband?
Hey, it’s another Brit(t). Awesome.
We’re at that awful stage where I actually really really prefer to go by myself. Boo isn’t reading yet, but loves books and wants to run around and randomly pull stuff off shelves… Mister still wants to EAT the books.
And we’re no longer quite close enough to walk.
(Okay, so I couldn’t technically pop them both in the double stroller and walk the 2 miles… but…. blah.)
Brit- We’ve had our fair share of those days. Luckily, our storytime lady was awesome in Washington and very entertaining for the kids. I’ve been to others- in Oregon, that were so dry, I couldn’t even sit still. I find that a small stroller and a buckle works really well to minimize the shelf-emptying, and my little one knows that if he gets out, he has to behave, otherwise he gets buckled in and we leave. But, if I were you I would be definitely taking advantage of the weather, before it gets hot there. The library will be the perfect place to go to stay cool.
We’re surviving, although some days it’s crazy. It will be so nice when we can be settled in our own home, and not have Dad traveling so much.
Britt- I still prefer to have time to myself at the library too. That’s one reason storytime in WA was so nice. I had lots of friends there and we would take turns spelling each other so we all got a turn to look for books in the Big People Section. But, that’s one reason why Cari and I review children’s and adolescent literature- we spend a lot of time in that section of the library. Good luck with finding time to go by yourself! Someday your kids will figure out how to leave the books on the shelf and not Eat them.
And, I don’t really blame you, a 2 mile walk each way with kids, and a library visit- that’s just asking for a meltdown. We used to do a 1 mile walk each way in Oregon, and we had a few screaming all the way home trips.
I’m officially crazy. We walked to the library Friday.
Thank heavens for double strollers.
Britt- I’m officially impressed! Sounds like you deserve a nice long quiet time by yourself with a book. Or two!
Britt – Wow! You walked to the library. I guess having no car makes it more a necessity.
Holly – What an adventure in moving. I’m glad your boys have found some comfort books – especially the T-Rex book. Someday I may post about our recent vacation where I remembered to bring the bag of books, but forgot my luggage on the family room couch!