Preschool, books, and accessibility

Maya had her preschool playdate yesterday.  I'll type up the details about it later (this weekend? Monday?) but for now, let me just say that it went well :)  It's definitely where I want her to be, and they liked her a bunch too---it's not a done deal until the IEP official signs off on the placement, so I'm not breathing a sigh of relief yet, but I'm hopeful.

On the way to the car for the playdate yesterday, this is what Maya was reading in the stroller:

Yikes. She found it on the floor and refused to trade it in for one of her books.

Clearly, we were in need of some new reading material . . . and luckily for us, today there was a big used book sale at a local school.  This school is pretty ritzy, and I swear that some of the books that were donated by the parents seem like they've never been read (like lift-the-flap books that had no crease in them from, you know, lifting the flaps). 

I brought big bags and a backpack and I had my game face on.  We cleaned up!  It ended up being a little bit tricky to walk home carrying the 41 lbs (yeah, I weighed it, because I'm a nerd) of books home, but it was totally worth it.

Maya loves books and was clearly excited with our bounty:

She's blurry because she was wiggling & squeaking with excitement as I started to unload the books. 

She was so excited that she started to rock . . .

Whoops :)

Check out all of the great stuff we got:

Board books

Hardcover books

Paperback books

DVDs

(We also got a box set of Sesame Street mini board books, but the picture was blurry)

When all was said and done, it ended up being 70 books and 4 dvds for $80.  A great deal, right?  I mean, I don't throw around money on toys and books like that very often, but I feel like I was basically able to buy an entire library for her.  And she was SO HAPPY :)

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On a totally different note, the building was not AT ALL handicap accessible.  After getting into the building, I had no idea how I was going to make it down the 3 flights of stairs to the book sale with Maya and the jogging stroller.  I ended up having to take her out, carry her downstairs, and enlisted a student (a 5th grade boy who was so sweet) to help me.  He would wait at the landing of the stairs with Maya, holding on to her arm so she couldn't wander off, while I carried the giant stroller down each flight. 

Someday Maya will be able to climb stairs, and I could technically stop caring about things like handicap accessibility, but I really think that it's an issue we should all be working to resolve.  Could you imagine if you were in a wheelchair and had to dread entering a new building, thinking "I already stand out because I'm in a chair, now I may have to ask strangers to help carry me somewhere?"  What an injustice.  It makes me think of an old Ani DiFranco quote:

"Cause I know the biggest crime is just to throw up your hands . . . .

Say 'This has nothing to do with me, I just want to live as comfortably as I can'"

I don't know how people can help to make buildings more accessible, but it's something that I think about now.  I would imagine that there must be some way to legally force the issue, as the ADA must have some provisions in it about accessibility.