Library TIme

Lola is enamored of her new library book, "Cowgirl Rosie and the Five Baby Bison." We hope the Western theme, conjured up by a British writer-illustrator, will be sufficiently quirky to prepare her for a visit to her cousin Brooke in Albuquerque next summer. The eldest baby bison is named "Bigwig," a name we also bestow on Abdiel every time he reaches his present poodle-maned splendor. Her other library finds, "I Like Cats" and "Let Me Do It," are also in heavy rotation. After the library, we went to the playground, met up with Lola's friend Maggie and her parental attendants, and headed to a coffee shop. Lola proceeded to consume a large quantity of Sprite Zero, straight from the bottle, as if she were swigging gin. I told our friends that the chemicals in the diet drink might actually give Lola a perfect, plastic complexion. Every time Lola encounters a new Coke product, we have to put another item on our "banned from Lola's presence" list. What are the coke barons putting in these products that makes them so irresistible to toddlers? Sprite Zero doesn't even have caffeine, or real sugar.--K