Maggie Makes Four!

This journal started off documenting the adoption of our youngest daughter. It now follows the twist and turns of our lives as we raise these two amazing little creatures into the best women they can become.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

School Picture Day

Friday was Picture Day at school- the one day, I have final say on all clothing worn outside this house. The kids must be at school at 9am on the nose, because pictures start promptly at 9am and you never know when your child's class will be called in for pictures.

6:00am- Maggie disappears into her bedroom and emerges from her bedroom dressed in a too short, stained pink skirt and purple shirt that is a half size too small.

6:05am- I tell Maggie that she can wear that around the house, but not to school. Maggie calmly tells me, "I wear this to school forever, Mommy, I no nap at school anymore."

6:45am- La Nina and I are discussing the days events at school and she asks if she can wear her Halloween costume for her picture. I tell her No and she starts sulking.

7:00am- Television goes off and both girls refuse to eat breakfast. Maggie sits down to color and La Nina starts looking at a book.

7:30am-Breakfasts are still not eaten.

8:00am- Maggie asks for crackers because her cereal which has been sitting an hour is too soggy. She doesn't get crackers.

8:15am- No one is eating and no one is dressed. It's thirty minutes before we walk out the door and it's looking bad. I decide to tackle La Nina first.

"La Nina, let's go pick out something to wear for your school picture."

"I want to wear my costume," she answers.

"No, honey, you can't do that. It would ruin the surprise. You can't wear it until Halloween, remember? Why don't we wear that brown blouse and sparkle skirt you like."

"I hate the sparkle skirt, I'll never wear it again."

"Well, let's see if the other brown skirt is clean." Of course, it isn't.

She and I settle on a nice denim skirt, the nice brown blouse and she is dressed without incident. I send her to the bathroom to brush her hair. A sense of foreboding strikes me. That was too easy.

8:25am I see Wankie on the floor and decide it's time to lure Maggie back to her room for a quick change. Only 20 minutes before we go to school. I sneak Wankie off of the couch, put it on Maggie's bed, then ask her if she knows where Wankie is 'cuz its almost time for school and you would never want to go to school without Wankie, now would you darling, angel child?

Maggie eyes the couch then heads to her room. Once she takes the bait, I follow her through the house talking about different dresses I know she loves. When she gets in her room and sees I left a perfectly acceptable pink picture dress on her bed next to Wankie, she looks at me and says, "Mommy, I no wear that dress never." Perfect. I want her to wear a green dress.

"Oh, Maggie, that's ok. Why don't you wear this lovely green dress?"

"No."

"I no wear it never."

"Maggie, it's pink or green, not what you're wearing. Either you chose or I do."

"NOooooooooooooo..." While she is already bent over, howling in protest, I whip the too small shirt off of her, because let's face it either dress will cover the skirt, if need be. Tears start.

"Maggie, you're wearing the pink dress." I put it on her, she's crying, saying something I can't understand, that sounds like never. I leave the room to go check on La Nina. La Nina has brushed her hair and teeth and is washing her face.

8:35am I see a blur run past the bathroom where I'm putting stick on earrings on La Nina. Maggie's naked. La Nina looks darling, at least.

8:36am I pick up my naked child and haul her back to the bedroom. She's wailing like a banshee, but she's going to put that damn dress back on.

8:37am She's back in the pink dress.

8:38am She pees on it. I've figured out that Maggie's potty training seriously deteriorates whenever she is in an outfit she doesn't want to wear. I counted on this. That is why I wasn't dressing her in the green dress.

8:40am She knows she is in big trouble over the "on purpose" accident and is contritely dressed in the green dress. I quickly brush her hair, cussing under my breath. This kid...what am I going to do with this kid?

8:45am We're ready to leave for school. I breathe a sigh of relief. I tell the kids to head out to the van, La Nina skips out to the van, the Magster trods out head low, but she's dressed for her school picture. I walk into the kitchen for my purse. I look at the kitchen table and spy 2 untouched breakfasts. Damn. Feeding them anything in the car is high risk for spill in their picture clothes, yet sending them to scool without breakfast puts me in the "Bad Mother Hall of Fame." I grab a banana figuring it's the perfect solution. If they get it on them, it won't show too bad and they'll typically eat a banana.

8:52am Enroute to school. Maggie whining she's hungry (forget the fact I've been trying to feed her for 2 hours) refuses to eat her banana. La Nina eats hers.

9:02am I arrive at school, only to discover that Maggie's picture day was Thursday, only La Nina was scheduled to have her picture taken on Friday. I was supposed to bring Maggie in the day before. Maggie smiles victoriously. I beg them to take Maggie's picture. I swear to them if they don't, she just won't have a school picture this year, because I'm not going through another morning like this with my child. They reluctantly agree and Maggie goes off for the first picture of the day.

There is a God.

A foot note: At noon on Friday, the school called. Maggie was complaining that she had a rash on her privates. They told me she was extremely uncomfortable and squirming around whenever they asked about it. They thought I should get her into a doctor immediately, so great was her discomfort. Given the delicate nature of her complaint, they were unable to really check. Everytime they tried to check she told them, "It's private." I was totally suspicious, but I dutifully went to school to claim my little darling. I put her in the car and asked her about the alleged rash. She told me the following, "It itches a little tiny bit Mommy. I no like to nap at school." Needless to say, there was no rash. Just a very clever three year old, who lost the morning battle, but found a way to win that afternoon.

3 Comments:

  • At 10:21 PM , Blogger Donna said...

    Maggie is so adorable! But I'm scared because I'll have two three year olds in less than a year! Is this what I have to look forward to? Honestly, I think boys are easier when it comes to this dressing stuff!

    :)

    Donna
    Double Happiness!

     
  • At 3:32 AM , Blogger Ani said...

    I'm still laughing over that story - hope the school pics came out PERFECT.

     
  • At 5:25 AM , Blogger Johnny said...

    I bow down and appreciate the quick chess moves made in your head in anticipation of refusals and "accidents".

    You're very nimble on your feet.

    (and you're right, you can't trust those devious tykes)

     

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