A Story

On our way to Florida for Christmas, somewhere along the drive, Marcail had been very chipper and talkative. After a while, she quieted down. I had assumed that she had finally nodded off to sleep. I was driving, and Andrew was napping beside me, so I was enjoying the quiet solitude and the rhythm of the tires along the road (for some reason, it is a very soothing sound to me). About 30 minutes went by before Andrew stirred and glanced around. "Anneke, we need to pull over right away....Marcail got into your make-up." Thats all he would say about it, so I figured it wasn't too bad.
We stopped at a gas station, and I was able to turn around and look at her at last. Oh my. Those were the only words that came to mind at that moment. She was THRILLED with herself! She had managed to get into my purse and open up my tube of lipstick. Before I continue further, you should know that the color was fortunately not bright red... more like a beige- pink. Any ways, this girl had painted her whole self with this lipstick. It was all over every available flesh that was not covered with clothes, and she was wearing a dress, so her whole legs were exposed. Legs, toes, bottom of the feet, arms, elbows, front and back of hands, and every inch of her face and neck. (Now, children do learn by example, but I can promise you that she has never seen me put my lipstick on like this.)
I had a big bottle of make-up remover and cotton balls, which did the trick, along with 20 minutes of rubbing and scrubbing.
The best part about it, the best part of the story, is when I wailed, half humored and half frustrated, "Marcail, WHY did you do this?!" and she simply and cheerfully replied, "I wanted to color!"