So Long, Library!

Of course there are libraries where we live now, but I wanted to pay special tribute to our library in Las Vegas. We’ve spent a good amount of time at the Windmill Library since it opened just miles from our house shortly after we moved into our house. We got to know some of the librarians there and attended quite a few storytimes. Teagan really enjoyed storytime, singing the songs and reciting the poems, making the mad faces when they asked her to make mad faces and doing every action they suggested (I took her mostly because I enjoyed watching her listen to and follow instructions.) She looked forward most to the stamp the librarian gave you at the end. She would curl up in a ball at the end with her hands on her head and wait for several minutes for them to get to her. An outsider might have thought she was braced for a bomb or an earthquake, but it was just a stamp.

We also participated in numerous reading programs. One of those programs was the “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” program Teagan started when she was about 2 and a half. Since then, we’ve been filling out reading sheets, 100 books at a time and taking them in to the library for a stamp, a prize and the next sheet. Resolved to finish what we started before we moved, a few hours before we loaded the truck we headed to the library, laden with nearly 50 books and a dozen movies to return and a list of books 901-1000 – heavily featuring titles like “Everyone Poops” and anything that began with “The Berenstain Bears and”. I wanted to make it a family affair, a sweet little moment together, as I felt we needed to celebrate something so exciting. Well, that exciting thing took a more exciting turn when we unloaded. I strapped on the diaper bag and grabbed the gigantic bag of books and movies (we’d been relying on the ones we’d borrowed since we packed ours) from the boot while Buddy got the kids out of the car. I started to straighten up and heard a yelp and whipped around to see what was wrong. A scream this time. “Hold still!” Buddy yelled at me and continued to tell me that Teagan was attached by the hair to the incredibly strong Velcro on my diaper bag. So, while I stood still, hunched over at the back of the van, Buddy held Mason with one arm and tried to free Teagan with the other. I do not exaggerate when I tell you it took several minutes and as my legs began to burn I asked what was taking so long. He finished then and I turned around to see my sweet girl. The top of her French braid had been snared and it took a whole lot of effort and a whole lot of crying to free the poor little thing. So, with a tear streaked face and tangled, fuzzy hair, still whimpering we embarked on a sweet little moment together. She greeted her friends (the cutouts from Monsters University and Frozen) returned a record number of items and claimed her prize – a book. It was pretty perfect that Miss Joanna was the librarian working the children’s desk – she always greets Teagan by name and always found something nice to say about the way I looked when I was pregnant with Mason, even if it was a lie…which it had to be. Glad we got to say goodbye to her. Everything else went off without a hitch, except that we’d forgotten a few items at home and had to make plans to come back anyway. Which made the fact that she couldn’t bear to part with the beloved Alvin and the Chipmunks CD we’d renewed countless times. I made plans to return it on the sly with the other few items the next time we visited the library. The real last time. So long, library!