A trip to the library

Today, in an attempt to avoid being cooped up in the house all afternoon, we braved the rainy weather and walked to the library to play. Despite the fact that we pass by the library on nearly every trip through town that we take, Julia decided it was necessary for us to have a map to show us the way to our destination. She quickly set about creating a map with her markers and paper, and as I pushed the stroller along on our way, she called out these very helpful, crucial directions to me: "Mom, the map says STRAIGHT, TURN, LIBRARY!"

While Madeleine wound up trying out all of the various toys in the children's section, Julia preferred to play in a select few areas, truly devoting her creative talents to make sure she got all she could out of her pretend play. After putting on an elaborate puppet show for me in which each puppet had a specific name (such as Penguin E-E, Hissy Friend the iguana, and Dolphinny Teethy), she headed over to the puzzle area. As soon as she got her hands on the ballerina puzzle, she decided to put on "The Ballet Show." Apparently her princess opera was just a dress rehearsal to prepare her for her very first public performance, because today she entertained the entire children's section of the library with her ballerina's deeply emotive arias. Rest assured, she suffered no stage jitters, and was so intensely focused on her game that she was not afraid to bellow out her songs despite the myriad of people around her. Madeleine, on the other hand, preferred to work her puzzles in silence, with the occasional heart-broken, "My digger!!" if a piece from her construction puzzle fell to the ground.

Upon returning home, Julia gave me a huge boost of confidence regarding her expectations of my cooking when she announced, as she took a bite of chicken, "To my surprise, I like it!" I'm glad I was able to surpass her expectations so successfully.