Getting Ready for Fall

You readers are probably aware of the fact that my kids get really excited for autumn, and with good reason: the fall brings not only Halloween (tied for first favorite holiday for both girls), but both of their autumn birthdays as well.  So despite the fun we have all summer at the pool, the girls start getting reeeeeeally excited at the first hints of fall weather.  Julia has virtually galloped the entire way to school the past few mornings, thrilled by the brisk, cooler weather, and even Madeleine keeps asking me if it's fall yet.  In fact, Madeleine and I recently had a whole discussion on her favorite parts of every season.

ME: So Madeleine, what do you love so much about fall?
MADELEINE: Um...jumping in the big pile of LEAVES!
ME: And what do you love about winter?
MADELEINE: Um...jumping into a big pile of SNOW!
ME: And what do you love about the summertime?
MADELEINE: Um...jumping off the DIVING BOARD!
ME: What do you love about spring?
MADELEINE: (momentarily thoughtful) Um...NOTHING.

I guess she couldn't think of anything she likes jumping into in the springtime.

At any rate, today was an extra-special almost-fall day for Madeleine, because it was her first day back to preschool!

We took the requisite first-day-of-school picture out on the stoop:

And then we took another picture a little later in the morning.  Here's a fun I Spy!  exercise for you readers: can you spot the differences between the two pictures?:

If you managed to find the differences, then you're surely aware of the change in footwear.  Madeleine vacillated back and forth between her sandals and boots as if it were an epic moral choice, finally settling on her boots but packing her sandals in her backpack.

When I picked her up from school, she was back in the sandals, so I am certainly glad we packed them.  Although by that point, she was second-guessing her choice of shorts.  "Mama, I think I look WEIRD in these!" she announced, her eyes filling with tears.

Being someone who really doesn't care a whole heck of a lot about fashion, I sure managed to produce two extremely outfit-conscious children. Sigh.

The one thing Madeleine was certain about was her shirt, since it was a brand new one she had picked out at the store *specifically* for her first day of school.  In fact, she was so excited about the shirt that she hopped over to her teacher as soon as we walked into the classroom and announced, "This is my NEW SHIRT that I got at the CVS!"

Close.  We actually got it at T.J. Maxx.  But, hey, three syllables, plus initials; CVS is not too far off the mark in her brain.

At any rate, Madeleine is now home from her first day back at preschool and already asking when she gets to go to school again.  Since everyone seems to have the sniffles lately (my kids included), I insisted Madeleine use some hand sanitizer before touching her lunch, and as I squirted it onto her hands, I saw her wince in discomfort.  Lately she's not so into the hand sanitizer, because:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Why does Purell always feel so SPICY?

Seeing as Madeleine doesn't like spicy food, either, I'm not surprised she doesn't like spicy hand sanitizer.

At any rate, we are slowly but surely getting ourselves into the swing of the fall routine.  And hopefully soon the trees will start to change color and shed onto the lawn so that Madeleine can fulfill her autumn dream of jumping into a big pile of leaves.