The crazy house goes to the library

We make it a point to go to the library once a week, usually Thursday evenings. I get home, pick up the kids, go with patti till Bukit Batok, take the train to jurong.

Husband usually meets me at Jurong, after which we reach the library around 7.30. This gives us about 1.5 hours to borrow books and to play a little. Here's a typical session

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Anjali runs into the library

A: it's very cold!!

S: gabla gabla

A runs to the water fountain. Husband stays with her. I use the opportunity to go to the adult section to borrow a cookbook and perhaps some fiction.

A runs up the escalator shouting at the top of her voice: MUMMEEEE MUMMEEEE WAIT!!!

We reach the fiction section, I dont find anything that I can finish reading in ten minutes. Dump the idea.

Recipes section is more promising. Hundreds of recipe books (you dont need more than a minute to scan a recipe). I pick up a couple and then we take the lift to the basement.

A grabs a basket, we make our way to the preschooler's section. A stops at a near shlf and picks up a couple of books. "We'll borrow these two books"

I glance at the titles. Disney Jungle book and something by Rosemary Wells. Seems decent enough.

"Ok"

A drops the books into the basket.

S is making frantic signs to get down. I let her down from the carrier. She toddles off..

Straight to the dustbin.

I pull her from the dustbin. Kids immediately begin some kind of push pull game with the basket. Husband is two shelves away looking for books.

I look for something by Dr Seuss, trying to decide whether to take Hop on Pop or Green eggs and Ham.

Sophia is behind the basket, hanging on to it, and Anjali is dragging it across the carpet at full speed.

My eyes pop. Why on earth does Sophis not let go of the basket?

I abandon my choosing process, drop both books into the basket.

Girls are still having fun. Apparently being dragged on her knees while hanging on to a basket constitutes a eleven month old's idea of fun.

Whatever!

I am still at the S, trying to borrow a dog and bear book.

Found a dog and bear that we hadnt read before. Take the book to the basket, and do a double take.

Eleven mon old is sitting in the basket

Three year old is pushing the basket.

Eleven month old in dangerous position of tipping over.

Dont think that carpet is soft enough to sustain head injury.

Try to persuade three year old to let eleven month old alone.

She ignores me.

I do the next best alternative. I call for husband.

He cant hear me. Frustrated that we have to be quiet at the library and dont quite dare to leave the basket and the kids alone. Try calling husband again. He looks up. Entice him into having his packed dinner. Dump kids with him and borrow books.

For the next five minutes, run through all the favorite authors list and borrow books - already read favorites, unread bbooks etc.

Husband finishes dinner and brings his own stack

We get on average around 30 books during each visit to the library.

One of the books it a Usborne Little red riding hood. Anjali makes me to read it and finds it very amusing that the Wolf says Vegetable soup is yucky.

I am very sure that it is going to have an influence on her palate

Sophia amuses herself by climbing all the chairs and all the tables, pulling out all the books and putting them back.

I assume that she and husband visited the dustbin on more than one occassion, but what i dont know wont hurt me (its the first law of biocentrism)

I saw her carry a pretty big Dora book and toddle up and down between the shelves.

The library made the closing in half hour announcement. We finsihed the red riding hood, picked up a couple of other books

At the fifteen minute announcement, we are at the borrowing station. Still borrowing until the five minute announcement.

It was 30 books after all.

This is a typical day.

On the atypical day, we are still tehre and the librarian asks us if we have finished borrowing our books as she wants to shut down the system