Due to budget cuts, the girls’ school no longer has a librarian.  Last year, a weekly visit to the library (which was called the Media Center) was worked into the weekly schedule like gym, art, and music classes.  At the start of this year, I asked Dee Dee’s teacher if students would be going to the library, or if the library was still stocked, or if the room would be used for something else.  I wondered if there were any books left in the building, and if the kids would have an opportunity to check them out.  Dee Dee’s teacher wasn’t able to answer because he didn’t know, even though the Media Room is one door away from his. 

I wanted to know because last year, Dee Dee had the maximum limit of library books checked out through the whole year.  They would come home in her backpack and then get dispersed around the house.  Then, I would receive emails from the school telling me that one or more of the books were overdue.  Then, we’d search for the book or books and send them back to school in her backpack.  Sometimes the books were returned to the library (Media Center), sometimes they returned to our house, still in her backpack. 

One afternoon, a couple of weeks into this school year, Dee Dee lugged home a backpack-load of library books from school that she was excited to show off.  I didn’t want to ruin her excitement, so instead of repeating the explanation of why she really didn’t need to bring any books home because of the overly stocked bookshelves in our house, I just suggested that she keep all the books in one place and bring them back to school as soon as she finished reading them.  Dee Dee designated the area beneath the desk in our living room as the spot for the books.  I kicked the books every time I sat down at the desk, but we were making progress.  

After a couple weeks of stubbing my toes on hard cover Garfield collections, monster “histories,” and joke books, we agreed that it would work best if she just kept her books in her backpack and planned to return them the day after bringing them home.  Dee Dee was bringing home pretty short books and even the story books that she brought home were being finished before dinner time on the day they were brought home.  So, it made sense to just bring them right back to school instead of losing them in the house or hauling them around in her backpack. 

Last Friday, Dee Dee brought home a few large, heavy, but quick-to-read books.  She had read all of them before dinner and then selected her favorite of the bunch to read to me before bedtime.  On Monday morning, she brought the books back to school.  When Dee Dee came home from school that afternoon, she still had the books in her backpack.  I asked if she forgot to return the books.  Dee Dee told me that she tried to leave them in a “return” box in the classroom, but her teacher told her to bring them home and read them again.   

Dee Dee brought the books back on Tuesday morning, and then brought them home again on Tuesday afternoon.  She explained that the teacher suggested that she “read them again,” again.  I asked a few questions and learned that there isn’t any special day that books should be returned. The books can be left in the “return” box in the classroom at any time, and the box isn’t located anywhere near the teacher’s desk.  But Dee Dee also told me that she told her teacher every time that she was returning her books.  So, on Thursday morning, I advised Dee Dee to just drop the books in the “return” box without telling the teacher.   

On Wednesday afternoon, I asked Dee Dee if she had returned the books.  She said that she dropped them off without any problem.  Then, she proceeded to pull four hardcover books from her backpack and stuff them under the desk, where I was sitting. She had a copy of Garfield’s Greatest Lasagnas, Halloween Jokes for Boys and Ghouls, Animal Babies of North America, and Animal Babies of the United States. I moved my feet out of the way and repeated each title as she announced them to me as she set them beneath the desk.  

Astrid was home, sick from Tuesday through the end of the week. She probably shouldn’t have gone to school on Monday. But it’s difficult to tell if four-year-olds are whiny because they don’t feel good, or if they are just whiny because they are four years old.