Welcome Great Pumpkin!

Tonight, we all sat down after dinner to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." This would be the first time Madison has seen anything related to the Peanuts cartoons, and it held her attention the whole time. Would the Great Pumpkin come?

Not tonight, I'm afraid. We always felt sorry for Linus. He never gives up believing. Year after year he tells us, "The Great Pumpkin comes to the most sincere pumpkin patch. He rises out of the pumpkin patch and flies through the air, bringing toys to all the children of the world!"

Maybe next year....

It got very cold today - unseasonably cold. In fact, it's supposed to start freezing next week. That'll be interesting. Madison keeps seeing pictures of snow here and there and calling out to us: "noooo!" This isn't "no" as in a negative answer. This is her way of saying "snow." She's going to be quite excited when she sees it this year - and the way the precipitation has been falling, I'd say our expectations are high for a little of the white stuff soon.

Daddy had to work most of the day, but Mommy and Madison hung out together again, going out to do a little shopping. When Daddy got home, it was story time again. Just forget Oprah's book club - it's time for a section of the blog called:

MADISON'S BOOK CLUB

Today's featured selection is a book called "47 Beavers on the Big, Blue Sea." It was written by Phil Vischer, who some of you may be familiar with from Veggie Tales. The book actually comes with a CD, which you can play along as you read the pages. This we did, and Madison actually got so much into it that when we see the scary shark appear from the water, she wags her finger, "no, no, no!" Fortunately, the beavers are resourceful and find a way out of that situation - and others. And that's the whole point of the book, actually. It's a quirky book, but that's pretty much what you'd expect from the author.

In any event, Madison enjoyed it very much - but soon it was time for us to head to the dinner table. Mommy had made some shepherd's pie for Daddy, and a nice big plate of vegetables for Madison. The broccoli reminds her of trees, so she had them stacked up for a bit - just before she attacked them like Godzilla.

She was a bit rambunctious today - she got to the salt shaker before Daddy could stop her. Just picture Daddy reaching out in slow motion, calling out, "nooooooo!"

It was too late. Her broccoli had more salt on it than there is in the Dead Sea. Fortunately, Mommy had a cool head and reminded Daddy that he could just rinse the broccoli off. Unfortunately, a little later, Mommy's cool head got injured tonight. Just like any child her age, Madison can inflict a painful surprise from time to time. She'll be squatting there, waiting for just the right moment - and then launch herself upwards! Bonk - she hit Mommy square on the chin.

Just before bedtime, she got Mommy pretty good. Mommy bit her lip, and Madison was slightly stunned. Hopefully, she's learned a lesson - but I know I have: Be careful around our daughter - she comes spring-loaded!