Library

It's been incredibly cold and rainy here and we cant afford to pay the fee yet for playgroups so I have been taking Meggy to the library lately. This is fun and ultimately irritating all at the same time. She loves other kids and thinks they love her in return so it's alot of her trying to talk to other children and trying to make them play with stinky old piggy. I can see in her eyes the hurt she feels when other children don't respond to her. She likes to run up and down the book aisles yelling "HI" at the other people in the library, she runs behind the counter, she hits the keyboards of the free to use computers, she takes the cd's out and runs with them, she pulls books out and tries to give them to people. It's like a whirlwind is loose. I can tell the librarian is alternately amused and irritated. That goes for most of the other people in the library too, I think.

Today we went a little early hoping to beat the crowds that have been there because of school vacation and the rain but it was very busy. Alot of kids were there. Recently I have been dwelling on whether I am a good mother or not. Someone I know tells me I let Meggy watch too much tv and its been bothering me every day lately even though her playgroup teacher told me I am a very good mother and T tells me that all the time. We were sitting on a couch in the children's area and there was a small boy picking out books near me while Meggy was at the young adult section pretending she can read older people books, there were two adults talking near me and one was the little boys mother. He became bored with his story book and was trying to get her attention, she ignored him so he got louder and louder, suddenly she looked at him and screamed at the top of her lungs "Don't you yell at me, you will not get any book from here if you keep yelling at me" I was so shocked I couldnt even get my thoughts together for a second. Meggy started to cry. The little boy went back to his book as if he was used to this. The other woman she had been talking to didn't even say anything they went back to their conversation like nothing happened.

I tried to cheer up the little boy by reading him a story and he seemed to enjoy it. (no thank you from the mom btw) Meggy patted him on his head. I couldnt believe someone would yell at their child like that, especially in public. Yesterday at the supermarket I saw a couple with a little girl about Meggy's age arguing about something and the little girl wandered away almost out the front door of the supermarket while they weren't paying attention. So I guess my point is, I might be worried about being the best, but I dont think I am the worst. Meggy is kind, brave, inquisitive, active, intelligent, playful, and fun to be around. I think I am doing all right.

I did get a bunch of kids cook books from the library. I was thinking if we could find some easy recipes maybe she can help me cook. We also got an activity book and a children's book about Japan. I have been reading a book called The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. Its a big one, but completely riviting. I only picked it up because the cover looked nice and Meggy was driving me nuts running in circles so I grabbed something fast. Turns out to be a great read. It's all about what would happen if the ocean turned against us.

I forgot to mention, it's so cold here our olive oil turned into a solid!

New Zealandism of the day: Green Milk or Blue Milk

This confused me alot for awhile. Everyone kept referring to either green milk or blue milk. I was looking for blue milk in the store. Then I realized that the plastic top of whole milk is blue and the plastic top of skim milk is green. I haven't had this confirmed by a Kiwi, but I think this is the solution.