A Lovely Rainy Day

Today was the first day in a long while that Tess and I had nothing on the calendar. It promised to be a rainy day, so I was a little worried we'd be stuck inside all day, but the rain held off in the morning, so we ventured out for a trip to the library.

Tess was so excited to go to the library, which surprised me, because I can't remember the last time I took her to our library. It's not a great library. I'm usually disappointed with the books we find; it's so overused. Yet she talked about the library all morning and during the whole three block walk. So we were terribly disappointed when we got to the door and found it closed until 1pm.

I decided to take us to a nearby diner to recover from the disappointment and give us something to do that morning. Tess climbed into the seat across from me in a booth, and together we ordered pancakes, juice, and tea. She was thrilled to get a pancake, and I was surprised to realize that she's a fun dining companion.

While we were eating, she noticed the bar chairs. We were at an old ice cream parlor, probably built in the 40s or 50s, and there are leather chairs mounted against the bar. In the middle of the back of each chair is a large button. Tess pointed this out, telling me, "Mama, chairs have belly button. On back!"

After paying, walking toward home, stopping to sit on the duck ride outside a store, playing a bit in our back garden, and finally coming home, Tess was ready for a nap. As soon as she woke up, she told me, "go to library! Mama, I excited!"

We went to the library. It was open. There were a lot of school-age kids, and Tess soon asked to go home, intimidated by them. So we came home where she made me tea and pancakes. We sat at her little table, and Tess would announce when we had finished and run to make us more pancakes.