Respect the green light

Wednesday

Much better day. I felt so much better. I decided to do something kind of fun for the girls. So I got the Halloween Charlie Brown and picked them up right after school. I made them take a bath while I made popcorn. I let them each pick out a couple of pieces of candy and we watched Charlie Brown. There was a lot of grumping and Ruby insisted on going to bed 30 minutes early but all in all, a nice Halloween night.

Thursday

The girls went to school in costume. Well, Maggie can't wear her ears or tail (she's a cheetah) but she wore the rest of it. Ruby wanted to wear her dragon costume from last year to school because she's going as Chewy tonight! Look, this is probably the last year I get to dress her (or any child) for Halloween and dammit, we're doing a Star Wars costume!

We're going to Laurie's house to trick or treat. I'm not really sure why. But Maggie absolutely insists we are and SHE IS GOING TO TRICK OR TREAT WITH ELLA!!! It just goes to show, if you act confident, people won't question you.

Ruby is really respecting the green light. She hasn't knocked or been loud early. Well, once. I taught her the song (with modified lyrics), I'm the queen of the castle, you're a dirty rascal. And she was singing that quite loudly one morning.

She says, "seriously," all the time. And, that's a good plan. I had her high five one time on something (like I told her, here's the deal, you are going to take a bath and then we'll read books, deal, high five on it), so now she wants to deal/high five everything. Which is cool.

She's been telling me about her boyfriend for about a week. She has a boyfriend and they sit next to each other. I asked her, what does it mean that he's your boyfriend? I don't know, she answered. I asked, do you have girlfriends? No, only a boyfriend. So, then yesterday, she's telling me again about her boyfriend and she says, I sit on his cot at nap time and we laugh. No way this is true. I've seen them at nap time. They are on cots in a tight little circle with a teacher sitting above them. No one talks, no one sits up. Ruby is almost always the only one awake (poor kid). So, I asked her, what's your boyfriend's name? The only reason I asked was because I saw her talking to a specific boy that morning and afternoon and wondered. However, she gave me a completely blank stare and said, I don't know. So. . . I guess she heard the term somewhere and was just telling tales. I don't know. She's a weirdo.

I got the girls from school and Maggie was anxious. She's always anxious when there is something to do and I never handle it well. I want to tell her, chill the eff out. But, oddly, this doesn't help. Then she falls apart about something so ridiculous (but it's not really about that thing) and we fight. I don't know how to be better at being there for her. She lashes out and it's hard to get yelled out and insulted and watch her be cruel to Ruby. I don't know how to help her and keep her from acting that way.

Anyway, we got back to the house and I got Ruby ready. Maggie was freaking out about needing cheetah makeup. She was scared no one would know what she was. When she asked me to help her put on makeup, it tickled and she screamed at me. Then she started screaming at Ruby and finally ran off to cry behind my treadmill.

After a few minutes of gathering our things, I said it was time to go. Maggie came out and everyone got in the car. Then they were both crying and I thought, oh my God this is going to be a freaking nightmare.

But, somehow, by the time we got there anxiety had given way to excitement and everyone was fine. Maggie was a little standoffish with Ella for a minute but mainly fine. I had the jittery feeling of having just avoided a major highway accident, but who cares.

It turns out the costume I bought wasn't a teddy bear (that I could turn into Chewbacca) but a monkey. So, no Star Wars, but a really cute monkey.

We went out trick or treating. It was me and my girls. Laurie, Jeff, Ella, and Jilli. Ella's friend, Eden, and her mother, Angie. Dad and Joanne. We had a great time. The girls were so excited. No one melted down or otherwise had any issues. It was cold. They got tons of candy.

We finally got home around 8:45. Poor Ruby, that's way past her bedtime. I tried to convince her to sleep in and put her to bed. Then Maggie told me she wanted to go to bed too. I read to her and turned the light out.