A Birthday Party and a New Book

This afternoon, Madeleine got to go to the birthday party of a boy in her preschool class.  Not only did she have a blast at the event, but she got a goody bag loaded with all sorts of cool stuff, including a dinosaur mask.  In fact, Madeleine was so enthralled with the mask that she donned it immediately upon receiving the goody bag, so we said our thank-yous and good-byes at the party with Madeleine as a dinosaur.  As I drove home, Madeleine piped up from the back seat: "I wonder if JULIA will be so surprised when I walk in the house looking like a DINOSAUR!"

I decided to make Madeleine feel extra confident about her costume.

ME: Wait a minute.  Is there a baby DINOSAUR in the back seat of this car??

Apparently Madeleine felt it was urgent to assure me that she was not, in fact, a real dinosaur.

MADELEINE: (pulling the mask off of her face) Mom!  Loooook!
ME: Oh, phew!  It's just Madeleine!  You FOOLED me!  I thought there was really a baby dinosaur in our backseat.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  Why did you think it was a dinosaur?
ME: Well, you look so much like a real dinosaur with that mask on.
MADELEINE: Besides Mama.  Come on.  Do dinosaurs even wear SNEAKERS??

Man, she's got a good point there.  How gullible could I possibly be, thinking she was a real dinosaur when she was wearing sneakers?  I mean, if there was any one blaring fact to prove that Madeleine was not an actually dinosaur, that would be it.  Forget the fact that dinosaurs are extinct, or that I actually watched Madeleine put the dinosaur mask on in the first place.  The sneakers were the REAL give-away.

She does make a convincing dinosaur, don't you think?:

Among the other treats in the goody bag were some Silly Bandz, whose shapes momentarily eluded Madeleine.  You can see one of the bracelets in the above picture, on the edge of the table, but for clarity here's a closer shot:

MADELEINE: Mama?  WHAT is this supposed to be??
ME: It's a dragonfly.
MADELEINE: Oh!  Mama.  First I thought it was a STAR.  Then I thought it was a WEIRD THING.  Then I thought it was a DRAGONFLY.

Yeah, I can see why she thought it was a weird thing.  That would have been one of my first guesses, too.

Anyway, while we were away at the party, Julia had been busy reading and writing back at home.  She is currently on a big American Girl kick, and has taken out several American Girl library books from school over the past few weeks.  Clearly, she has been influenced by the family-tree-like cast of characters on the first page of each book:

As you can see, Julia took a similar approach in her newest book, entitled

A Christmas and Valintine Day Steiler
by Julia Rowe

Inside cover:

Meet our karicters
Mereine, Kristeine, Eleine, Mama, Papa, Alora, Crissy, Ant Chloe and Unkel John

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to find out more about Unkel John.

This book is still in its infancy, but I'll share the first page with you all:

"Kristeitne was siting on her bunk.  A lamp was ajar from Mereine's head.  'Thar is no inchanter hew makes it Christmas and Valintines Day at the same time and thar is no one who takes it away,' Kristeitne said."

ME: Hey, Julia, I have a question.  What do you mean by "a lamp was ajar from Meriene's head?"
JULIA: (beaming with pride) Like, the lamp was hanging above her head.
ME: Oh.  Do you know what ajar means?
JULIA: (faltering) What?
ME: It means open.  Like a door can be left ajar.
JULIA: (sheepish) Um...oh...
ME: It's okay!  I just wondered if you knew what it really means.  I'm impressed that you have even heard of such a big word!
JULIA: (regaining her pride) Well, come on, it's in Harry Potter ALL THE TIME!

At any rate, the book is still a work-in-progress, but I'm already hooked.  I can't wait to find out more about this inchanter and what will happen with Kristeitne and Mereine in their bunk beds.  And I especially can't wait to meet Unkel John.



I will leave you with the following exchange between Ethan and Madeleine, which occurred just as Ethan finished wiping Madeleine's bottom and Madeleine attempted to rise up out of her toe-touching position in the bathroom.


ETHAN: Watch your head, honey.
MADELEINE: (still trying to stand)
ETHAN: (trying to prevent her from bonking her head on the edge of the bathroom counter.)  Madeleine.  Watch your head.
MADELEINE: I can't watch my HEAD!  Because...my face is on my FACE.

Yeah, Daddy.  She CAN'T watch her head.  Because her face is on her face.