The Contest

Yesterday I participated in a contest that I didn't even know I was in. I did my usual drop off routine at preschool. The Muffin was supposed to wear or bring her Halloween costume if she wanted to. She wore her tutu to the car, but then realized that it was too too big to fit in her seat. Before I had Ellie and her tutu strapped in The Muffin had her tutu sitting beside of her. I guess I got too too carried away with the tulle!

The Muffin was happy carrying her tutu in a bag and very happy to hang it in her cubby. Everyone else in the class had decided to wear their costumes. There were three D.isney characters, (Tinkerbell, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty) a princess wearing pink and then the only boy in the class was a dinosaur. The Muffin didn't mind that she was the only one not wearing a costume. And she didn't mind that it was only a tutu, because that's what she wanted. She had a very sweet substitute teacher (Oh, how I wish this lady was her teacher every Monday & Wednesday!) that told her just to let her know if she wanted to wear her costume. I left the school feeling sort of bad that she didn't want to wear her costume and wondering if we should have bought a really elaborate D.isney Princess costume when they were marked down to $50 when we were at the beach. Then I remembered all of my years of preschool teaching and how all of this was about what my daughter wanted and not about trying to out do any of the other children or parents. If my daughter wants to be a ballerina then that is what she will be, period.

In our little newsletter we were asked to bring one treat (and it was underlined three times) for the children's Halloween treat bags. I bought Dum Dum suckers, Skittles and Oreo fun packs. The Muff picked the Oreos and I placed a bag of them for each child in a ziploc bag with her name on it. I expected her party treat bag to have one treat from every child. Needless to say, a few, okay probably all, of the parents brought more than one treat. The Muffin has no need to go trick or treating because she already has a nice, little stash.

In our packet of information at the beginning of the school year we were reminded to sign up for two class parties. Although I had my ideas of which parties I wanted, I let Miss Muffin choose. (Our parties are later in the school year and I don't even remember which ones they are.) We were asked to only come to the parties that we were in charge of . Being a former preschool teacher, I completely understood and obeyed this request. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the preschool ten minutes before dismissal to see that all of the other mothers were at the party! I couldn't help but get a little mad and of course, that left The Muffin being the only child without a crazy, excited, camera-toting mother coaching their child on how to pose. I don't think she minded. As soon as we left the room she complained that all of the children and their mothers were being so loud. I couldn't help but snicker because those moms were acting so...stupid.

Long story not quite as long, The Muffin wasn't herself at all yesterday morning before school, during school or after school and as I was fixing lunch and she was sitting at the kitchen table (evaluating her candy stash) she said, "Oh, I feel like I'm going to.....blaaaaakkk". She "throwed up", as she likes to say, all over the table and herself. After that, she acted normal again and I think she would have worn her tutu to school if she'd had another chance.

And on another note, this is not anything serious or health related or really anything to even bring up, but it would make me feel better to ask. Please pray for my sweet, little Muffin. I don't want to go into the details because I want to protect her privacy (even though I just shared that she puked all over the table). It's been a rough six months for her with having to live without her Daddy being home for a while, then the move, the new sister, then moving again and leaving her church and her friends in the process of all of that. I think that all of this has really taken it's toll on her. She is such a happy little girl, but Big Daddy and I have noticed such a difference in her. It breaks my heart to see and hear her laugh and suddenly realize that she's laughing the way that she used to laugh before all of this stuff happened.