Biblioteca

The Misers are fortunate to have not one, but two, library branches nearby - so nearby in fact that we could walk to them if we wanted. I don't know why we now have two branches in our neck of the woods, it wasn't always like that. When we first moved here we had to travel a few miles to get to the nearest library. But about five or six years ago they built the Edendale branch, and then just a few months ago the Silverlake branch opened. Neither of these libraries are very large, and the book collections in both are somewhat lacking, but nonetheless we have been enjoying them. I have always loved libraries as I come from a reading and a library going family. And since we can't take Bee to the park everyday now that we are officially in the middle of L.A.'s rainy season, we've been taking advantage of our local libraries. They are great for checking out DVDs for Bee, knitting books for me, novels, and CDs that we can download into our iPod. The Misers love free stuff, and we don't mind borrowing stuff instead of owning it. In fact, its better for the environment, right?

Anyway, Bee loves Dora the Explorer so those are the DVDs that we've been checking out at a furious pace. She especially loves Diego, Dora's cousin. She has told me that she loves him because he is so nice to animals and he can talk to them! He is kind of like an Hispanic Doctor Doolittle. (I guess he is her first crush, even though he is just a cartoon character.) I don't mind her watching Dora DVDs because they are educational for the most part. And since Dora is bilingual, Bee's been speaking a little bit of Spanish recently. She likes to count to ten in Spanish, and she also like to Mumba. (Hands on your hips and then wiggle your hips, wiggle your hips. Circle your hands, circle your hands. And march in place, march in place.) It seems like Dora the Explorer is quite popular these days with the preschool set. On the plane home from Seattle after Christmas, Bee wore her Dora pajamas because it was a late flight. We encountered a couple of young hipsters who were very nice to Bee, and to my surprise both of them knew who Dora was. One sang the backpack song to Bee, while the other kept saying "Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping!" Apparently they'd spent some time watching some Dora TV with their nieces at Christmas.

And even though I would rather that Bee was outside getting fresh air and sunshine, on the few days that it rains here in L.A, we don't mind her watching a DVD of Dora the Explorer, especially when it is free. The Misers love their local libraries!