The Big Election

When I returned home from work last night, Julia was involved in a very complex pretend game with her baby-sitter.  Apparently this game involved some sort of election, and Julia had rummaged through the recycling to find a cardboard box in which she and her sitter could cast their votes.  The box was full of ballots in favor of both Julia and the baby-sitter.

Ballots cast for Julia looked like this:

While the sitter's ballots appeared like this:

After explaining all about the ballot casting, Julia proudly displayed the crowns she had made, imprinted with this somewhat befuddling statement:

"I Don't Win Because of Love."

According to the baby-sitter, Julia decided it would be nicest to vote for the opposing party, rather than voting for oneself, so the reason Julia did not win the election is because she voted, out of love, for the other candidate.  Apparently her baby-sitter didn't win the election either, because she too sported a crown proclaiming "I Don't Win Because of Love."  So I'm not sure if there was some third-party candidate in the mix as well; perhaps Madeleine was the winner, although there didn't seem to be any ballots with Madeleine's name on them.  I'm a little thrown by this part of the game.  Maybe there WAS no winner, because of love.

Julia also decided that she and her sitter should write down something poignant about love.  The sitter's statement was:

"Love is magical and great!"

And Julia's message was:

"Love is My Love."

Woah.  Heavy.

Madeleine, who may or may not have been the winner of this election, did not choose to make any profound statements about love, but instead decided to make her paper plate into a purple-haired person with what appears to be either five eyes, or ears, eyes and a nose that are all in perfect alignment:

Speaking of Madeleine, she was definitely not in a blissfully loving mood this morning when we dropped Julia off at school.   As we walked back to our car after saying good-bye to Julia, Madeleine started to come unravelled because, in her words, "My COAT isn't being NICE to me!" 

The sullen pouting continued in the car, where Madeleine announced, "Mommy, I DON'T look like a GIRL."  This then led to the following, completely ludicrous conversation:

MADELEINE: (pouting) Mommy, I don't look like a girl named MADELEINE.
ME: You don't?  Do you look like a boy?
MADELEINE: No.  I look like... the letter S!
ME: Oh.  So should I call you Essie, then?

Next thing I knew, Madeleine had fully embodied the character of Essie.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  Essie can TALK.
MADELEINE: Mommy?  Essie is a BABY.
MADELEINE: (whimpering) Mommy?  Essie is sad because she misses her Mommy S!

Before long, Madeleine had tired of Essie and declared herself to be a baby tree instead, one who is also sad because she misses her Mommy.  Luckily, we arrived at her preschool shortly, so the grouchy behavior was soon replaced by manic hopping.

And with that, I am now off to pick up my S-shaped baby tree from school.  'Til next time!