Proud Mama

Harper and I enjoyed several indoor stops around town today. We started with storytime at the library, where it was kite day. Harper loves the singing and dancing part, then we heard a kite story, and made kites, which we then "flew" while dancing around to "Let's Go Fly a Kite," from Mary Poppins. We saw some friends from Harper's scary singing class. It seems that each time we go to the library, I end up meeting at least one new person. Even if we don't see them outside the library, it is still nice to know other moms in the area.

Our second stop was a little less glamorous; we had to visit the post office. I happen to love the post office, being a big fan of the United States Postal Service in general. The appeal of the post office has yet to sink in for Harper. She whined and strained to get out of her stroller the entire time we were there. Fortunately the other people waiting in that long line weren't too cranky about her disgruntled noises. One day Harper will know what it truly means to send and receive mail, then she won't mind waiting so much. If she's really, really lucky, her future class will take a field trip to see the inner workings of the post office. I took a class to visit the post office once and it was totally mind-blowing! If you ever get a chance for a behind-the-scenes look, take it!

As a treat to make up for forcing her to wait in the long post office line, I took Harper to Books & Company (also a favorite place of mine) to play with the trains. There weren't any other children there today, so Harper went back and forth between the two tables full of trains, rearranging and playing with them in any way she wanted. She was in heaven. I was enjoying the peaceful moments before she became aware of all the books on the shelves around her and started tearing the place apart.

Eventually the trains did lose their allure and she spent a few minutes taking plush Sesame Street characters out of a wicker basket. Once she'd held up Big Bird, Zoe, Elmo, Ernie, and Oscar in his trash can to show me, she put them back in and started eyeing the shelves full of books. All of a sudden her eyes lit up and she ran over to a shelf saying, "Moon! Moon! Moon! Moon!" Soooo excited. She reached in and pulled a copy of Goodnight Moon off the shelf and handed it to me. "Moon!" she said again, apparently for emphasis. I'm actually not kidding when I say that I had tears in my eyes. All that fuss over a book. I'm not sure I've ever been so proud of her as I was in that moment. That's my girl!