Missing Auntie

Julia decided to go to school today dressed in all white:

"Mama?  Since I don't have any ALL WHITE dresses, I decided to just wear THIS outfit because I want to look like EMILY."

I'm sure if she could have, Julia would totally have gone to school in a white nightgown and bonnet:






























Emily.


Not only is Julia in "Hocus Pocus" withdrawal, but she's also in major Auntie Shannon withdrawal.  She just can't handle about Auntie Shannon being back in Atlanta.  As we drove home from the Y this morning, Julia became teary in the back seat of the car, lamenting the fact that her auntie is no longer at our house.

JULIA: But Maaaama!  Why can't everything just be how it SHOULD be??
ME: You mean like all of our family members living close together?
JULIA: (nodding tearfully)
ME: I know, honey.  I wish that, too.  But you know why Auntie Shannon had to go back?  Because she needs to finish her school program.  She has to write a really important document called a dissertation so that she can graduate in July.
JULIA: But I thought Auntie Shannon was a SCIENTIST.
ME: She is.  She works in a lab as a scientist, but in order for her to finish her school program, she needs to write a dissertation that shows ALL of the things she found in her lab experiments.

It was at this point that Madeleine decided to chime in with some extremely relevant commentary.

MADELEINE: Well Mama?  I'm LEARNING how to be a scientist.  That's why I always PAINT a lot.
ME: Oh, really?
MADELEINE:  Yeah.  So Mama?  If I say I'm being a scientist, then I'm a SCIENTIST.

Madeleine's understand of the way the world works continues to astound me.



She provided me with some equally astute explanations this afternoon as she rushed towards the bathroom to go potty.

MADELEINE: I need to go pee!
ME: Okay, honey, go.
MADELEINE: Uh, Mama, can you turn the LIGHT on?  Because...I'm REALLY scared of the darkness!
ME: Okay.  (flicking on the bathroom light switch)
MADELEINE: (pulling down her shorts and underwear) Mama?  Can you put this on?
ME: Put what on? 
MADELEINE: I mean!  Can you put ME on?
ME: Sure.  (lifting her onto the toilet seat)
MADELEINE: Mama.  In ENGLISH, the way you say "put me on" is "put THIS on."

What would I do without Madeleine to teach me how to say things in English??  I'm telling you, this child is ASTOUNDING: a multi-lingual, painting scientist who is really scared of the darkness.  If she's this with-it at age 3.5, who knows what greatness she will achieve in her adulthood??