A Different Sort of Morning

Auntie Caitlyn, back in Boston after a vacation, and ready to start her next semester of school, came over for a visit last night.  Since she was planning to spend the night, and since I needed to be into Julia's school early in the morning to take some photographs for the school yearbook, Caitlyn agreed to take Madeleine to preschool for me while I was off taking pictures.

We made Madeleine aware of this plan as we got ready for bed last night.

ME: Madeleine, can you say good-night to Auntie Caitlyn?
MADELEINE: (hiding under her blanket)
ME: Come on, say good-night.  And besides, I have to tell you something.  Auntie Caitlyn is going to take you to school tomorrow!  You'll have to show her where your classroom is and where you hang your backpack and everything.
AUNTIE CAITLYN: Yeah, Madeleine, will you show me the ropes?
MADELEINE: Um...um...um...I have a COAT, and Julia only has ONE robe.
ME: The ROPES, honey.  Show her the ropes.  And that just means showing her the regular routine for school drop-off.
MADELEINE: Oh.  Um...YES!

Glad we cleared that one up.

So Auntie Caitlyn brought Madeleine in this morning while I went into Julia's classroom to take a bunch of shots of her classmates at work.  Ever vigilant and worried about being mistaken for a rule-breaker, Julia made sure to loudly, repeatedly announce, the entire time we walked through the halls, "MOMMY, YOU'RE HERE TO TAKE PICTURES FOR THE YEARBOOK!" 

Good thing she made that public knowledge, because I'm sure otherwise everyone would have wondered what sort of crazy human being I was to walk with my daughter down the halls of her school.  Sheesh.  Talk about LIVING ON THE EDGE.  It sure was wild and rebellious of me to try to pass as a parent who WASN'T there to take yearbook photos and who was merely walking her daughter to her classroom.

At any rate, the photographing went well, as did Madeleine's drop-off, and now that Madeleine is home from school, she has decided that her outfit needed a serious make-over.  Ditching the dress and tights she wore to school, she instead threw on the blue plaid apron from our Dorothy dress-up costume.  No matter that the apron is intended to be worn OVER a white blouse, and without it, Madeleine is walking around with her upper back and chest mostly exposed.  She felt like a fashionista, and that was enough to satisfy her.  ESPECIALLY when she also donned a winter hat and some ballet shoes:

Ooh, la la!

Happily dressed as an urban ballerina Dorothy, Madeleine then sat down to enjoy a Mario Kart Wii game with Auntie Caitlyn, in which Auntie Caitlyn alone drove the race car and Madeleine, truly believing herself to be in control of the car, wildly turned the steering wheel left and right and exclaimed over all the amazing things Caitlyn she herself was doing.

I'm beginning to suspect she might be a genius.