Howdy,
Yesterday I threw in the line “standing in a library watching your kids play with Legos and thumb through books” while discussing the drafting of my blog post on a dying iPhone. (Not the battery that day, but threatening to go kaput for real, long-term.)
Would you believe we—they—were in the library for nearly two and a half hours? My three young boys, roaming around and terrorizing the place for two-plus hours.
Really, it was Riah roaming around and terrorizing. He’s mobile and he’s on the move—sort of the same thing, but not really if you think about it: he’s using his mobility. Sixteen months old today, Riah Surf makes his move whenever there’s a sliver of a chance, his walk turning into a run—more like a speed-walker. You know that funny “run.” He’s there.
While Jasper and Titus played quite contentedly with the Legos offered (along with the new Legos table now offered in the remodeled Denair branch), Riah went for the lower shelves throughout the building, pulling novels from young adult and adult sections and blitzing circles through the aisles, especially away from me. He even found a way to reach through an empty shelf and push the tucked in, open ends of books to make them stick out into the other aisle, like he was sending an Interstellar inter-dimensional message. Maybe he was. These boys are brilliant, just ask their mother or me—and if you don’t believe us, you can even ask a grandmother.
After offering one of the dis-shelved novels to an innocent older man standing in the middle of the room just waiting for his wife being helped at the desk, Riah flirted for attention at that same desk. Just smiling. Smiling at the two librarians until they smiled and chuckled back. What else can you do with a small child tearing apart your dominion who is as cute as Baby Riah?
While chasing Riah, I didn’t have to worry about watching Ti. I always knew where he was because of his Legos role-play shouting. I shushed him loudly multiple times. You know the type—when the parent is just as loud, and probably, definitely, as annoying: “TI, PLAY QUIETLY WE’RE IN A LIBRARY YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR LIBRARY VOICE TITUS QUIET TALK MORE QUIETLY TITUS TIMEOUT.”
Titus got two timeouts, a pause in the action and the noise, for his unbridled exuberance. But, hey, that’s over two and a half hours.
Jasper played for a long time and moved to the books and back and forth. It was amazing how long they were all “content” with the offerings of the library, especially since it didn’t even much include a usual favorite of the educational games on the kid computer.
Have you heard how loud Legos are piled in a plastic bin or a wooden drawer? They’re loud, trust me. Kind of a crazy collection of toys for a library. I mean, come on, we’re trying to concentrate. Shh, I’m bumming the internet and thumbing post … Jasper’s still sitting reading a book (maybe in English, tal vez en Español), I can hear Ti, but where’s Riah?
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
Word Count: 191,858 / On Pace: 194,700 / Year’s Goal: 200,000
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