Outfits and School

So, Madeleine woke up this morning with yet another imaginary outfit in mind to wear for the day.  I'm guessing she probably dreamt that she had a black dress with a zipper, because she was absolutely gung-ho about wearing said dress today.

MADELEINE: (looking despondently at the outfit I had picked out for her) But MAAAAMAAA!  Why do you ALWAYS pick out an outfit that's not a DRESS?
ME: Well, you can wear a dress if you want.
MADELEINE: I want a black dress with a ZIPPER.
ME: Uh, well, do you HAVE a black dress with a zipper?
MADELEINE: (brightly) Uh-huh!
ME: Okay.  Then where is it?
MADELEINE: Um...well, it must be LONG-SLEEVED, because I really want it to be.
ME: Okay.  Well, why don't you get the dress you want and bring it downstairs.

Several minutes passed.  Then Madeleine came traipsing downstairs empty-handed.

MADELEINE: So Mama.  Does anybody HAVE a black dress with a zipper?

Well, yeah, *I* do, but that's really not gonna fit you, honey.

We settled on a pink dress with no zipper and a silver sparkly kitty instead.


And speaking of clothing, check out this really avant-garde fashion statement Julia made at school on Monday.  Wearing your sweater around your neck as a scarf is the new trend, folks!:

And yes, that is Ethan at her school; he was a guest reader for the commemoration of Dr. Seuss's birthday, reading "The Star-Bellied Sneeches" to Julia's first grade class. 

I wonder if, like the envious Sneeches who have bellies without stars, Julia's classmates will all want sweater-scarfs upon thars.



On another note related to Julia's school, parents have been asked to help children study their math facts every day, practicing addition and subtraction with numbers between 0 and 30.  Since Julia was dressed and ready before it was actually time to leave for school, I thought it would be perfect to run through some addition and subtraction problems together; that way, she could have more free time before bed - which is when we usually work on such things - to play.

Great idea, right Mom?  Well, it turns out that Julia had other plans in mind.  Instead of working on math with me, she wanted to show me EACH AND EVERY sticker on her Valentines box.  And I mean she literally had to point to EACH one and say, "And I have this one, and this one, and this one, and this one..." and I was supposed to watch with interest.  Because clearly I am not capable of just looking at the box as a whole all on my own and seeing the stickers WITHOUT them being pointed out to me individually.

I interrupted her partway through the show and tell to start quizzing her on math facts.

ME: Okay, what's twelve plus twelve?
JULIA: Twenty-four!  So Mommy?
ME: What's twenty plus twenty?
JULIA: Forty!  Mom?
ME: What's twenty plus ten?
JULIA: I dunno.  Mom?
ME: If you're counting by tens, what comes after twenty?
JULIA: Thirty!
ME: What's thirty plus ten?
JULIA: Forty.  Mom?
ME: What's sixteen minus eight?
JULIA: Mom?  When can I go back to showing you my Valentine stickers??

I think that watching her point out the Valentine stickers was about as appealing to me as answering math questions was to her.

At any rate, we got through a fair amount of math, so I did my arithmetic duty for the day.  If I was really invested, I would have incorporated the Valentine stickers into some math equations, but I was way too lazy for that.

Soon enough, we were off to school, and the girls enjoyed bellowing along to the music from "Jesus Christ Superstar" on our way there.  After we had dropped Julia off, Madeleine listened contemplatively to the track "Blood Money" for a few moments, then made an astute observation.


JUDAS: (singing) I have no thought at all about my own reward, I really didn't come here on my own accord...
MADELEINE: Mom?  Is he, like, Mad-Eye MOODY or something??
ME: Does he sound like Mad-Eye Moody to you?
MADELEINE: Well, he's singing really FAST, and...on "Harry Potter," Mad-Eye Moody can talk REALLY FAST.

Well, they MUST be the same, then! 

I think Madeleine has taken things to a meta level here.  Harry was BETRAYED by Mad-Eye Moody (albeit Barty Crouch *disguised* as Moody), just as Jesus was betrayed by Judas.  I think my child must be a genius to make that connection.  My mind is blown, man.  Moral of the story: Can't trust those fast-talkers!