I was at a restaurant recently and heard a child loudly exclaim, "I peed in the potty!" While his mom shushed him, a few of us strangers congratulated him. Because, it takes a village to raise a toilet-trained child, right? It brought me right back to the time my two year old son carried his potty chair into the living room while we were having a party. He apparently wanted an audience for his latest accomplishment. Books can often make a big difference as kids make this important transition to independence. But they can be hard to find in the library. Some are shelved with the picture books, while others are in the easy non-fiction area. That's why I love to show parents our potty-training booklist. These are all of our favorites, from our village to yours.

If your house is like mine, trips to the grocery store with small children can be an adventure, sometimes in good ways, sometimes not. Here are some activities that can take some of the stress out of this task and build early-literacy skills at the same time.

Cut out pictures of some of the things you will be buying, and have your toddlers make a colorful grocery list. You can write the names of the items next to the grocery list.

If your preschoolers or kindergartners are learning to write letters, help them to write out the list for the day.

As you put the items into the shopping cart, allow your children to be the keepers of the list. Let them check off the items and add new items that are not on the list.

And as always have a couple of books handy to read together while waiting in the checkout line.

Today our library's storytime was all about water in its various forms: how ice and snow melt when it's warm and how water freezes when it's cold. Young children have a lot to say about these processes. They love to become young scientists by predicting and experimenting. What will the duck do when she arrives before Spring? What will happen to Peter's snowball when he brings it into his warm house? We set out a bowl of snow and some ice cubes in a separate dish and watched what happened to them in the course of the storytime. Parents left inspired to try it at home. A bowl of snow on a table can be a great avenue for conversation. And research shows that just such experiences build background knowledge-- a key skill used when children are learning to read.

Have you read our latest issue of the Birth to Six newsletter yet? Our bi-monthly newsletter is full of fun ideas for picture books and fingerplays to share with your children.

In the midst of sub-zero temperatures, it's cabin fever time in Minnesota and we have the just the books to ease the pain! Our collection of Silly Stories are filled with engaging wordplay, fun movement and wacky characters to brighten even the grayest day.