one happy child
It seems that almost daily we've been riding our bikes (or walking) to the library/Co-op/tot lot. It's been a frequently requested outing, and one that makes everyone happy in just the right ways.
Peter can ride his bike on the long, uninterrupted stretches of campus sidewalk, spinning his pedals as fast as his not-so-little legs can move them. He's been such a patient, rule-abiding bike rider that I have to say a little "thank you, thank you, thank you" every time we head out. Now that he can hop on and off his bicycle himself, and has mastered the art of spinning in circles while the slower members of his party catch up, it's really quite fun to have him ride his bike along with us.
Lucy has the promise of the swing set to lure her. While she's not obsessively drawn to the back-and-forth motion any longer, any promise of swinging is one she'll take in a second.
Thomas enjoys the new thrills of the tot lot. The slide! The rides! The hanging! (Yes, the hanging - he's started hanging on any available bar lately, and is especially thrilled when he can reach them himself. Otherwise, he'll just jump out of adult arms toward the closest ones. Talk about your daredevil baby...)
I almost always have a book or two on hold to pick up at the library, so the library visit works perfectly for me. The kids also enjoy sitting on the cozy library sofa and picking two or three books for me to read to them. Their choices at time can be dreadful - why are there so many truly terrible children's books? - but they often find well-read favorites and new surprises. Or, they'll hand me a copy of City Dog, Country Frog because "it makes you cry" but remind me that "it's sad, but it's happy, too, because he makes a new friend."*
Our last few visits to the library have been slightly trying, as Thomas discovered the thrill of knocking off each and every book from the early reader section. This happened with Lucy, too, which is why we really visit the library for our first year here; I can't read books and re-shelve them at the rate the children request. We may need to relocate library visits to another local library, which offers big unsorted bins of board books to satisfy the littlest one's need to dump out books and otherwise bring on mayhem.
*True. I cry everysngletime I read this story. So, so sad.
Comments