library day with the girl who loves stories--gratitude #6

as much as i hate the trip into town--now that we are 15 miles out, it seems interminably long--the lure of our city library is compelling. it's a green built-building, and it's beautiful and huge, and the children's department is amazing and a sensory delight. oh, and they have a great local coffee shop inside, complete with deli fare and the best old-school cheap coffee by the cup in town. what's not to love?

when we get back from the library, rowan is always eager to spread out her take and start in right away on the books, books on tape or cd, or a movie. i'm especially grateful right now for audio books, which let me work and feel almost as good as if another person is reading to her. she;s as quiet and engrossed with these books as with a movie, but they're basically guilt-free for me. :D i like guilt-free--my superego works overtime as it is without any further stimuli.

here's our cream of the crop from the last few days (which included a trip to the big library and our dinky local library, which is pretty good too--a totally different experience, where the librarian knows rowan's name, when i'm due, that we're homeschooling, and who doesn't need my card to check books out for us...she actually knows our names by heart.) these are the ones she and i have really enjoyed, or the ones we're looking forward to especially. she ate dinner while listening to one audiobook, and basking in the splendor of her other choices of books on CD and tape for the next few days. i'm particularly jazzed about roald dahl reading charlie and the chocolate factory and james and the giant peach--he's one of my very favorite authors, age-graded genres be damned. i also look forward to the unabridged jungle book by kipling--i loved those as a child.

my favorite moment of the night happened after supper. rowan is really enjoying this cd book by cornelia funke called igraine the brave, about a young girl who gets the opportunity to become a knight *and* save her family and their castle. she particularly likes the fact that there is an evil character named rowan the heartless in this book. anyway, she was still gnawing on a chicken bone and on a stool right.next.to the stereo, totally enraptured. i'm grateful for moments like this, when she's totally awake and aware about the world around her, taking all of something wholesome and edifying in like a sponge, or a plant's roots uptaking nutrients.

i wish i could make every moment this perfect for her, but i'm glad the ratio of great moments to crapola is pretty high--and grateful that time is on our side.