School Day Fun

After having the day off yesterday, the girls were headed back to school this morning, Julia with unbridled enthusiasm and Madeleine with what appeared to be mixed emotions.  Julia was, first off, thrilled to be wearing a new-to-her outfit that I had recently washed from the hand-me-downs box in the basement.  She went into her bedroom to get dressed immediately after waking me up, and as I stood in the bathroom brushing Madeleine's teeth, I saw Julia slither by the bathroom door on all fours, then patter quickly into the living room.  A few moments later, Julia returned, this time loudly stomping her feet and dancing maniacally outside of the bathroom door.

JULIA: Mama, first I was feeling SHY that I didn't want you to see how CUTE I was looking in my NEW OUTFIT, but then I decided I wanted you to see it so I came DANCING over!

Madeleine, on the other hand, was too busy being stubborn about her tooth-brushing routine to notice Julia's outfit.  Apparently I committed a huge error in getting her toothbrush out of the holder and picking up the toothpaste to squeeze onto the bristles.  I didn't realize that Madeleine was supposed to do that job herself.  There was no other option but a do-over.  Grabbing both the toothpaste-smeared brush as well as the tube of paste out of my hands, Madeleine then put the brush back in its hole in the toothbrush holder and put the toothpaste tube back where it usually resides, then pulled her toothbrush out of the holder again, picked up the paste, and handed both to me so I could resume the process of brushing her teeth.  I guess I really screwed up the whole process by attempting to perform her job for her.

Since Madeleine has loved school so much over the past few weeks, and has enjoyed staying for Lunch Bunch, I checked with her this morning to see if she wanted me to pack her a lunch.

ME: Madeleine, do you want to stay for Lunch Bunch today?
MADELEINE: Um, I want to have Lunch Bunch at OUR HOUSE.
ME: Are you sure you don't want me to pack you a lunch for school?
MADELEINE: No, I want to eat lunch at OUR HOUSE.

I must have asked her this question at least ten times en route to drop off Julia and then en route to Madeleine's school.  She remained resolute in her determination to have Lunch Bunch at home.  She also seemed to suddenly have a change of heart about school all together, taking off her socks and sneakers in the backseat of the car and telling me she just wanted to go to school at home.

ME: Well, we can't go to school at home, silly girl!
MADELEINE: But I just want to go home.
ME: Oh, come on, don't you want to go have fun at school?  You get to play with all your friends! 
MADELEINE: I just want to have school at OUR HOUSE. 
ME: Well, that won't be nearly as fun!  There won't be any kids to play with at our house.
MADELEINE: But I just want all the kids to come to school at OUR HOUSE.
ME: Oh, well, we can't do that.  We can't fit all the kids from your class in our house!

Fortunately, Madeleine was not deterred by this predicament.  She was quick to concoct a solution to the whole issue.

MADELEINE: Well...maybe I can just MOVE OUT OF THE WAY so the kids could fit on our rug.

While that was truly an EXCELLENT suggestion, I still insisted she had to play with the kids at her school rather than at our house.  Thankfully, she seemed to undergo yet another change of heart once we reached the school, and after I put her shoes and socks back on, she went bounding into her classroom, hopping around, wild with delight at being there.  "Mommy, I'm SO EXCITED for my SCHOOL!" she told me. 

And that was that.  After running some errands and spending some time at home, I headed out to pick her up at 11:30 so she could have "Lunch Bunch" at home.  When I walked into the school office, I was informed by the office assistant that Madeleine had insisted she was staying for lunch, and had been perturbed because she couldn't find her lunch box.  I explained to the office assistant that I had asked Madeleine a million times whether or not she wanted to do Lunch Bunch, and she had been adamant about having lunch at home. 

I then walked into the classroom full of waiting kids, and the minute Madeleine set eyes upon me, she burst into wailing tears of bitter disappointment. 

It turns out that when she told me, repeatedly, that she wanted to have Lunch Bunch at OUR HOUSE that what she ACTUALLY wanted was to have Lunch Bunch at school.

She was so despondent about not getting to stay for lunch that I told the teachers I'd be back with her lunch box, and signed her up for Lunch Bunch after all.  Sigh.

When I returned yet AGAIN to pick her up, for realz this time, Madeleine was bouncing around in delight at having stayed for lunch and having had a wonderful day at school.  With such a physical expression of joy, I would have expected her to be able to divulge some details about how she spent her day.  I decided to ask her about it as I buckled her into her car seat.

ME: So, Madeleine, did you have SO MUCH FUN at school?
MADELEINE: (jubilantly) Uh-huh!
ME: So what did you do today?
MADELEINE: Um...I ate some snack, and then I drank some JUICE!

Yep.  Of course she did.