Mm, I love the day after a trip to the library! We treat it like a Federal Holiday.
I'm knee deep into Stephen King's final book (book seven) of The Dark Tower series. I can't believe this is the last one. Part of me wants to hurry through it to find out what happens, and yet I really don't want it to end.
James is parked on the floor, surrounded by books, sampling each one, going back to re-read the ones that were especially tasty. He squats down, resting on his toes, while he reads. I have no idea how he can do that for prolonged periods of time.
John is camped at the kitchen table with a dinosaur book we bought (10 cents! Gotta love the library sale!) and a cup of hot chocolate. You can hear the delight in his voice as he reads to himself.
Jacob, well, not quite the connoisseur of books yet. But he's so cute!
I love going to the library with the boys. They return their books, thank the librarian at the desk, wait patiently while I hand over my card and ask for the holds that are in. They then ask me if they may go read. At only six and four, I can say yes and let them head into the children's section of the library. I don't mean I say yes and then they're the librarian's problem. I mean they walk in, politely say hello to the children's librarian, and head for the stacks. They take out one book at a time, sit quietly to read it, start their own take-home stack. They don't yell, they don't squirrel around. I swear, they're more reverent in the library than they are in church! *grin* (OK, that's only a slight exaggeration- they're just really good in general.) Once they've amassed a good selection and I've collected the books I'd like to offer them during the week, we load up and head to the Mommy Side of the library. They stake out a table and sit to read through their stash. Sometimes. More often than not, however, we end up spending so much time reading and perusing the children's books that it's time to head out. I've learned to put things on hold so I don't miss out. It's painless and wonderful, and we all really enjoy it.
This didn't come immediately, and it didn't come easy, but it was worth the work and consistency over the years. Relatively short investment for the return.
Last night we went late in the evening. The beardie in the children's section was up and moving about. The place was packed with some kind of Chamber gathering. There was a sweet young girl of about 10 years old who took a shine to the boys and helped James find several good suggestions! We stayed until closing.
We stayed up late to read. Really late. But that's ok~ it was special day: Library Day!
So, we're off to enjoy our haul. Read to those babies!
~Dy
5 comments:
Dy~ We LOVE library day, too! There's nothing like coming home with stacks and stacks of new books to read!
Do you go on a certain day each week? For us, it's every Wednesday. Hey, that's tomorrow! Can't wait! :-)
We love library day, too. Or should I say "days." We go to town on wednesdays and thursdays for music lessons, and we hang out at the library while Virginia is busy, or we go after she's done. Garrett just dicovered Hank the Cowdog. He loves them. He can finish about three in an evening, but what he usually does is get three on wednesday, and then three on thursday. Reading to my children was my only way of playing with them. I can remember reading to Virginia when she was about eight months old. She would sit so still, and I would say "no, no" if she grabbed at the page, and she just loved it. Then she went and learned to read and since then, she's gone..sniff, sniff...she doesn't like to be read to much anymore. Oh well, there's always grandchildren.
Oh Dy, you give me inspiration to keep on trying. Ryan and Alyssa do SO well at the library but Craig, at just 3, is still in the "test my boundary" phase. He's little and still learning but it's easier to give up and give in when there's a baby around so thanks for the inspiration to keep up the hard work. Even now Craig is starting to do the right thing on his own at times but the wrong times are still outnumbering those. I'm treading water right now but thanks for the reminder that one day I will be out of the water all together and just relaxing and enjoying the fruits...
Love,
Jess
Linda- yes, we normally go on Tuesdays. That breaks our week up into two "out of the house" days, not back-to-back. It was also really good for improving my habit of not having overdue books! LOL! We blew it a bit recently, and have been scrambling to get everything back into the groove. We're getting there, though.
Kim- I love Hank! :-) And I even make DH let me read to him! LOL!
Jess- Um, notice I didn't mention Jacob... who gets strapped into the sling and is forced to endure my constant bending and lifting, bending and lifting. I don't let him out of my sight. Period. Gonna be a long time before I do, too, I'm sure. Just keep lovin' 'em and guiding them and training them up and one day you'll find we'll be able to walk into the library with ALL OUR KIDS in tow and nobody will bat an eye. You and I can just sit back and grin like idiots. :-) Love you!
Dy
Man, I miss the library!!! Our whole family loved Hank the Cowdog, but we "cheated" by listening to the audiocassettes! The author (forgot his name) is the voice for each of his characters and he does a fabulous job! Witty, humorous and lovable characters. We especially enjoyed these tapes whenever we went on long trips.
What a great thing it is to bring your boys to the library on a regular basis and see their love for books grow. Very Cool!!! We'd be doing the same thing if we were in the good ole U.S.A.!!!
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