Some things in life ARE free

Clio and I have (finally) discovered the library. And--Barb, cover your ears--for the first time in both of our lives, we have NYC library cards.

We took a cue from my friend Rebecca and have been hitting the children's room at our local branch on a weekly basis, bringing home three books at a time. And like Rebecca's daughter Scarlett, Clio tends to love one or two of the books and have little to no interest in the third. So far, we have read the relatively new and beautifully illustrated books When You Were Small and The Curious Garden and the classic Horton Hatches the Egg, all of which Clio and I both have loved; two books from the early-reader Iris and Walter series, which Clio loved but Dave hated; "learn a lesson" books Nobody Notices Minerva, Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy and Good Job, Little Bear, all of which she could take or leave; and Lilly's Big Day a bad choice by me about a mouse who desperately wants to be a flower girl, in which Clio was not at all interested.

For Clio, who loves books dearly (though lately is not treating them with love, throwing them on the floor, stepping on them, etc.), the library is a total dream. She can sit on the floor surrounded by shelves of stories and be happily occupied for hours. Luckily, Eleri seems content to sit on the floor and gnaw on a book or two, or crawl around and attempt to take books away from the other children. Clio does not quite understand that it is a quiet place, both for quiet voices and actions, and has been known to do some running and loud talking, but I think she's catching on. I'm just waiting for her to start calling it the "Library Party," as in the Children's Museum, which she dubbed the "Museum Party;" she seems to think it's just that much fun.