Swapping

Lately, driven by a desire to save all of our pennies for Baby #2 and to chip away at our debt, I've been delving into the idea of making old things new again. I guess it kinda goes along with the green movement of repurposing. I love it! The idea struck me last weekend that perhaps some other little one out there would love to read the books that Eva chooses to read with us (over and over and over again) and maybe we could trade with that little one so that we could relieve his or her parents of the books that they have been reading (over and over and over again). Thus our first attempt at book swapping was born. Today we went over to Adam and Carrie's house. They have elementary-age girls and an 11-month-old. Sitting among new friends and good food, we swapped our books and watched some football. It was wonderful! We came home with a whole bag full of books to explore together, Eva was exhausted, mom and dad got a break because the older girls loved taking care of Eva when we were there, and our bellies were full. It was so much fun to hear the kids talk about what books they liked and those they wanted to swap. Eva is too little to articulate her thoughts yet, but she kept pulling her "tried and true" favorites out of the swap pile to squirrel away. As sweet as that is, I know that Kyle and I will be grateful not to read the Crayola colors book another time. I think we may be on to something with this swapping idea. Toys, babysitting, a dinner club? What I enjoy most about it is the opportunity it provides to connect and share with neighbors. It almost feels like a lost art.