The Library- Hannah's favorite place

About once a week (and sometimes twice) we pack up all of our "old" books and head off to the library to get some new ones. This is something Hannah asks for on a daily basis because she LOVES going to the library and getting some new books.

Here she is picking some new books off the shelves. For the most part I let her pick whatever she wants and we discover what we've got when we get home. I like to walk around the nonfiction sections and pull off books about things she's interested in. For instance, we love "a day in the life of... " books and books about the states right now. BTW- she can put all the pieces in for her US puzzle all by herself and Nate is teaching her their names right now. (She's got CA, NM, TX, SC, NC, ND, SD, GA, FL, LA, OK, MN, CO, WY, and Maine down pat. They work on it every day at lunch and she loves doing it because she gets chocolate for right answers.. so funny--- this kid has a great attention span) Her favorite state is Montana because it has lots of mountains in it. She really wants to go out west to "all those states with mountains." In fact, she informed me today that she and bear are going next weekend to Montana. I hope they have a good trip :-)

I always go with the intention of only getting 10 books or so but we usually walk away with about 20. She loves that there are two branches really close to us so she gets such a big selection of great books.

We tend to stay at the library for about an hour because she wants to look at each book on the floor and make up stories to go with them. I only occasionally have to tell her to talk a little more quietly ;-) I like to bring my own book and get some reading time in before we move on to the puzzles and then go home.

When we get to the car she always makes sure that she's got two or three books within arms reach so that she can "read" on her way home. If she forgets then the whole way home she begs me to pull over and get some books out for her. She always has books read to her before she goes to bed and she always has a handful of favorites from every bunch. The favorites get read the most and after just a few reads she pretty much has them memorized. If I read something incorrectly (ex. say his instead of her or books instead of book) she quickly corrects me. One time I even went through a book and purposely changed random words to see if she noticed. She didnt miss one.

Throught the week she frequently talks about the stories from her books and uses words that she's learned. I'm always impressed at how much she retains and how she incorporates everything she hears and sees into her knowledge of the world. She loves learning. If she asks me a question and I don't give a great explanation for it she gets so frustrated with me. "Mom, I don't know so I need you to explain it to me." Sometimes she'll ask me something while I'm busy and I'll say a few words to start my explanation then pause (Ex. Well because...) She walks right up to me, puts her hand on my arm and says "Mom, 'Well because' doesn't mean anything. What is the answer" So funny. I always have to be on my A game.