Valentines at the Library

Today after music class I had a couple errands to do on Main St. On my way there I had to pass Marisa's pre-school and I noticed that my mom's car was in the parking lot, which meant she was still there picking Marisa up. On a whim I pulled into the parking lot to wait for them. While I was waiting I waved to several people whom I know various different ways. When they came out my sister was with them too, as she had to drop off Marisa's boots and only works a couple minutes away. This is the beauty of living in the same small town all your life, or at least a place that once was a small town. Everyone spotted up and came over to chat. Marisa hopped in my car and to my amazement started sharing her loot from the Valentines party at school. Jacob and I took full advantage of this before she came to her senses and hoarded it all for herself. The kids were in such a happy mood, and I've been really longing to spend some quality time with Marisa so I invited her to come to the library with us. In exchange my mom took a trip to the grocery store (busy with people freaking out that there is going to be 12 inches of snow) to get eggs for me.

The library was fun. I totally let the kids break the rules and eat all the candy IN THE LIBRARY, nevermind that it was lunchtime. Shame on me and my suburban disobedience, but looking back on the way the librarians treated us, I'm kind of glad we did something unruly. I read all of Marisa's cards to her, and then Marisa 'read' some books to Jacob and damned if he knew the difference. We only chases out one mother and child from the kids' room and I'm not sure if it was Marisa's incessant chattering far above whisper level or if it was me every thirty seconds going, "Marisa...shhhhh. Remember your whisper voice," so self-conscious of the loud child with me, that drove the mom to find a more quiet room of the library to camp out with her good child.
All was well until Marisa had to go to the bathroom. This building houses all the town offices so the bathroom isn't actually in the library. I packed up all the belongings and the children, and marched us down the long, long expanse of the library. At the very end there were two doors, one being the exit. Now I don't know what the librarians have going in the room with a curtain over the window that is not the exit, but it better be something good enough to warrant the librarian flipping out when Marisa put her hand on the knob of the wrong door. Seriously, she started yelling at Marisa like she was the worst child ever. I was already intervening when the librarian skipped into action, but no matter, it's a kid and God forbid one of them enter a library on this gal's shift.

So poor, misunderstood Marisa must have figured if they're going to assume she's the devil, why not give them what they want? Yes, the rest of the trip to the bathroom was just peachy. And the bathroom was a whole other hell in and of itself. Then there was the return trip to the library, and the books I had temporarily placed on the counter on our way out previously and the look from the other librarian when I took said books off the counter could have frozen us all in place. Well doncha know I had to let go of the demon hands to pick up the stack of books and the two little monsters took off running back to the kids' room, passing the good mother and child on their way. My poor impressional Jacob would never have acted like this on his own. His big cousin Marisa is like an idol and anything she's doing is just the funniest thing ever, which of course only serves to feed Marisa's behavior and it's just a vicious cycle that only ends in something that looks like child abuse to an outsider.

My mom came in just in the knick of time and one look from me sent her into survival mode. I took off back to the counter to check out my stack of homeschooling books, followed thirty seconds later by two half outer-weather dressed kids streaking to the exit with a desperate Grandma in tow. I said thank you to the librarian three times but she wouldn't even look at me. C'mon, do you have to be that rude? In the hallway between the library and the outside Jacob crashed when he found out that I did not check out his Bob the Builder video (like we need another one of those), but my mother's charge was still going strong. Seriously, I do not know how to explain it, but this kid is out of control. Everything is just the funniest thing ever when she gets like this, and the more you try to control her, the more outlandish her behavior becomes until you just want to strangle her to get her to shut up.

Outside is where Marisa took off running into the parking lot and I almost didn't care, and where Jacob did the thing they teach you in toddler school - you know, stop, drop, and crumple to the floor in a heap making your mom look like a child abuser in order to get you off the ground. As soon as I had Jacob locked into his carseat I announced loudly to my mom that I was not going to bring him to her house for his Valentine's present because he didn't deserve it, and a whole other tantrum ensued. I'll admit that all this commotion was mostly due to a poorly-timed sugar rush, but honestly, the reason we never go to this particular library is because these librarians are something that rhymns with witch. There's one nice one who kept me going there for a while, but I didn't see her today. She lavishes attention on Jacob and has little conversations with him, knows our names. This is the kind you want working at a library, not the variety who can't get the sticks out of their butts.