Post-Halloween Dreary Day

After a great night trick-or-treating, the kids are in major Halloween withdrawal.  Madeleine and I have had variations of the following conversation all day long:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Is today YESTERDAY?
ME: Uh...no.  Today is today.
MADELEINE: But Mama!  Why is TODAY not Halloweeeeeen?ME: Because, honey.  Halloween is over.
MADELEINE: (hopefully) But...tomorrow is it gonna be Halloween AGAIN?

It also doesn't help that the weather is too icky for us to go outside, on top of which Madeleine has no school today.  Luckily, we have a stockpile of half-completed art activities that I keep on hand for (literally) a rainy day.  So Madeleine got to work more on her Ballerina Box that Nana and Gramps got for her birthday.  Let me explain something to you: decorating a ballerina box is WAY more than just an art project.  It's a pretend play fantasy ballerina game to boot!  Madeleine filled me in on all the latest happenings in the ballerina world.

MADELEINE: But Mama?  The BIG ballerinas treat the LITTLE ballerinas so POORLY.
ME: Oh no!  Why?
MADELEINE: Because they think the little ballerinas are UGLY.
ME: Oh, that's so mean.
MADELEINE: And all they do is fight, fight, FIGHT!
ME: That's terrible.
MADELEINE: Yeah.  They fight BACK, they fight FORTH, they just fight back and forth, back and forth!


That sounds like a pretty cruel world for ballerinas that are smiling so joyfully on the box. 

Thankfully, Julia is at school today so she can keep herself somewhat distracted from her Halloween withdrawal.  As we walked there this morning in the blustery weather, Julia was suddenly disturbed by an article of flying debris that had landed in her boot.  With no qualms about it, Julia plopped herself down on the wet sidewalk to take off her boot and shake it out.  When she stood up again, she had leaves and stems stuck to her newly damp skirt.

ME: Here, let me wipe you off.  You've got a wet bum now!
JULIA: (wisely and cheerfully) Okay!  I just needed to get that out of my boot.  Mom, I guess it's like Auntie Caitlyn says: "Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do!"

Now that's a motto to live by.  Thanks, Jules!