My library love has a long history.
I can remember the excitement I felt as a child when I found out that my town was building a brand new library even closer to my house. I counted down the days to it's opening and according to my Mother voiced relief that since the new space looked so big I probably wouldn't run out of books after all.
Getting a library card is at the top of my moving into a new city to-do list. In fact, it comes WAY before going to the DMV.
Although this has more to do with my own whack-a-doodleness and less to do with libraries, I spent a number of years during my childhood convinced that I had only a finite number of books allotted to me, after which I would be struck blind. This was a fear that was both persistent and real and I only wish, for the sake of my crazy little kid self, that audiobooks had been around in the 90's. What a relief that would have been (and maybe still is?)
Although this has more to do with my own whack-a-doodleness and less to do with libraries, I spent a number of years during my childhood convinced that I had only a finite number of books allotted to me, after which I would be struck blind. This was a fear that was both persistent and real and I only wish, for the sake of my crazy little kid self, that audiobooks had been around in the 90's. What a relief that would have been (and maybe still is?)
I was the clueless, nerdy graduate student who went to a HUGE public university and was SHOCKED to find that they closed the library on football game days. Wha???
In spite of this long, colorful past, the love I had for libraries as a non-parent is NOTHING compared with the library love I have now.
Enjoying the library with Yogi is my very most favorite thing to do and it only gets better.
On this cold, rainy morning we were cozy warm inside the downtown library and thanks to the parking garage, we didn't even get wet! Although we talk about where we're going ahead of time, it is only clear that Yogi knows where we're headed when we pull into the garage and he starts clapping. Now that he's a big boy, he likes to walk in all by himself and go directly to the desk of his friend (it is always the same woman) who validates our parking ticket. He does a little flirting and when he's properly embarrassed himself (he always gets shy after a big flirt-fest) I pick him up and we head towards the Children's library.
Once inside he wants to walk again and unless we're running late, we spend some time playing in the play area which houses tiny tables and puppets and a few toys of the variety pictured above. Since we almost always go around Story Time, there are always other kids to play with and Yogi loves that. He likes to bop in and out of small gatherings of kids (usually just watching them and then giving a big grin on the exit) and walk around and around the stacks. He loves to run his hands along the spines of the books on each and every aisle.
Then it's time for the main attraction - Story Time. We have been going to Story Time since Yogi was a few months old. In the early days we never made it through the whole thing (it's 30 minutes), but I felt good about getting him out and hey - it meant I got to go to the library. Now, we not only make it through the whole thing easily, but he's so familiar with it (or maybe he's just crazy extroverted?) that he's begun mingling before the show starts. Truly. This is what he's doing. We get inside the theater and find a spot and I usually open a book for him bc that's what we used to do before the show started, but lately as soon as I sit down and open up to the first page, he's off. It's not a frantic, running kind of thing but an ambling, making his way around the room kind of stroll. Just to check things out I guess. He pauses in front of each parent/child grouping taking them all in with a rather serious expression and then just before he makes his way to the next group he flashes a huge grin.
I love this new development and it makes me so curious about what is going on his head while he's doing it. He's interacting with everyone, but not in a physical way. There's no reaching out and grabbing for a sippy cup or anything like that. He just stands there taking it all in for quite awhile considering the fact that he's a 1 year old (2 minutes maybe?) and then as if saying "thanks for letting me stare at you and not think it's creepy" he awards the starees with a melt-your-heart smile. Then it's on to the next folks. He's like the Story Time welcome wagon.
I love it.
What's next?
1 comments:
That is just adorable.
I love books and reading but am not a big library person. I really need to work on it. They are such a good resource.
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