Madeline had an entertaining Halloween – her first cognitive “celebration” of this kid-friendly holiday. On the morning of the 31st, we took her to school with us in order for her to take part in the annual ISD Halloween parade (with the little ones, up to grade 4). She loved it until she nap-crashed.
She was a ladybug for Halloween – a costume that we had our local tailor buy the material for and construct according to a picture that Amy and given him. The result was not very close to what was depicted in the picture, but was actually much better and “lady bug-like”. You must see the pictures to believe the cuteness of this costume… complete with little black pipe-cleaner antennae that she amazingly did not rip out of her hair. The final touch was her pair of brown leather shoes which I affectionately refer to as her “parlor” or “pipe” shoes. Perfect! She was by far the cutest kid at the Halloween parade, though my opinion is obviously biased. Lots and lots of people got to hold her that morning.
After several hours at home recuperating, it was was time to party again. In the evening there was the annual Halloween party and haunted house at the American Club. Since this was the first year where we have had a child in Dakar at Halloween, it was obviously the first year we had gone to this event. I was impressed – so much time and effort put into it by members of virtually every part of the American community and beyond in Dakar. High school students were very involved in the functioning of the haunted house (getting those community service hours!), and many kids from many grades came in costume to this event. And so many families! This was THE place to be for Halloween in Dakar.
Maddie had a great time but seemed more interested in playing in the mud and impaling herself on a thorn bush than being social with the other families. Of course she probably will not remember any of it, but mom and dad had a great time.
We kept her out fairly late that night and obviously broke her routine a bit… which unfortunately continued during the weekend, and we are now paying the price. On both Friday and Saturday nights we stayed out late at friends’ houses for dinner parties. Both nights we took Maddie’s pack-n-play and gave her a bath in other peoples’ bathrooms. She did well on Friday night, falling asleep at someone else’s house for the first time ever. On Saturday night we were not so lucky and had to leave earlier than we wanted because she simply would not fall asleep. And though she’s good at sleeping in the car at night, she’s terrible with the transitions into and out of her car seat. THe end result is that she slept until 9:00 Saturday morning and 10:00 Sunday morning (an all-time record!), and even her daytime nap and eating schedule is “off-kilter”.
This is a kid who is hyper-sensitive to the slightest deviations from her regular schedule. I wonder how long she will be like this?
