Flat Madeline

As I was in the kitchen washing up the breakfast dishes this morning, Madeline suddenly started shrieking with delight in the other room. Before I had a chance to see what was up, she raced in, holding something behind her back: "Mommy, you will NEVER GUESS what I just found. Something I haven't seen in a LONG TIME. Something I have NEVER SEEN in Pennsylvania."

It was our copy of Flat Stanley.

Madeline couldn't believe her good fortune and immediately plopped down to leaf through the pages. We talked about how funny it would be to be flat and reminisced about the good times we had reading that book in Utah. (Madeline loves to talk about things that she did in Utah and things that she does here, and she always points out when we are doing something in Pennsylvania FOR THE FIRST TIME. Emphasis original.)

I had a brilliant moment and suggested we make our very own, life-size Flat Madeline. Of course Madeline was immediately all over it, and she took my glitter glue idea to the next level by picking out colors to match her own outfit (and nails). Basically she became the art director and I was the one making things happen. (As you can see by looking at the picture, there's a reason I was given this job. I'm very good at it.)

In the middle of our painting, she said, "Mommy, this is fun!" She was right. It was fun.

We play, but we've both gotten tired of me needing to unpack so many boxes and organize so many things and cook so many meals and wash so many dishes (even when it's done with her help). It's nice to throw that to the wind and just do something spontaneous and fun and out of the ordinary.

That is the glory of being a stay-at-home mom, after all.

And when Dave came home, boy was he surprised to find Flat Madeline propped up in the real Madeline's seat at the dinner table. I think we'll keep her around.