I have been away since November. Today, I renewed my acquaintance with the Seattle Public Library. While I was on my 8 month hiatus, I even downloaded the new SPL iphone app (which is awesome!). We’ve been hanging with our local school library. Our school’s library has become my home within the school. It is the place I have felt the most welcome within the school.
Early on, I realized having my rambunctious 3 yo was going to stunt my school experience. Siblings aren’t welcome in the class (for logistical reasons) so that limits my volunteering to once a month. I tried once to go to a monthly meeting with the principal and parents (like a chat session). No good. It’s also effected my social interactions with parents. I’ll want to stay and talk and get pulled in a different direction. In general, that is life with Laura. Laura is my joy and my responsibility.
But things are different in the library. We can wander in before school starts. We’re allowed to check out books as a family. The school library is dedicated to kids. Laura slows down. She pulls books off the shelf. We stick them in a bag. The shelves have old, precious, well-loved, well-tested kids books. It seems to be a better selection than our local SPL library. Sometimes Laura will play at the computer and I will have a chance to browse. Recently, we’ve been trying to work through the Caldecott books. The school library has them all in one section making them easy to grab. The other thing is I go to the school several times a week. I makes it easy to switch out books and grab new ones. So I was sad when I had to turn in my last bunch. To make matters worse, the school librarian is retiring. I feel like I’m losing my friend. We’d talk about favorite kids books and share suggestions.
Sara had made a home in the
library also. This morning she was grousing about it being closed the last week of school. I guess she normally goes up there and plays the game Sleeping Queens with her friends. She will also play with the computer with the program that reads her stories.
So we made the transition today, back to SPL. I biked. Laura did not slow down. She ran. She went into the library without me while I tried to lock the bike. She wouldn’t stay in the kid’s section. I lost her in the stacks (versus the books all on the outer walls in the school library – difficult to lose a kid there). She continuously pushed her boundaries. I had to pull her into a time out while I was checking out the books.
There were some fun moments. She played with the fun stamps and made me a bookmark. We did pick 10 new books. But, I will miss my school library and my slower child. But summer doesn’t last forever and 1st grade looms. I might even make a new friend.