Conversations in the car, and more

As we were driving Julia to school:

JULIA: Mommy, do you know what an invisible rainbow looks like?
ME: Um, no, I don't. Do you?
JULIA: Mmm-hmm. Yeah. I do. It looks like nothing.
ME: Oh, wow, okay.
MADELEINE: UH-oh!

After dropping Julia off, Madeleine and I went to the bank, which wound up being more of an outing than expected. The drive-up ATM was not accepting check deposits, so I had to circle back around the bank and park in the street a block or so away. While inside the front lobby, as I was using the ATM that very helpfully only accepts one check at a time for deposits, Madeleine decided to practice her continually developing walking skills. With each check I deposited, I would find her toddling just a little bit further away. "Madeleine," I'd call sternly, and she'd stop and bobble in place, at which point I'd turn my attention back to the machine and deposit a new check. By the time I finished with my fifth and last check, I turned to see her walking directly towards one of the little cubicles in which a bank employee was having a meeting with a customer. Squealing with glee, Madeleine began booking it as fast as her little Pinocchio legs could take her, despite my protests. Luckily, while she's walking quite well now, she's not quite ready to run, so she went kerplop right on her bottom about two steps outside of the cubicle, giving me time to run over and scoop her up.

When we got back outside, I decided to try something that had been one of Julia's favorite activities at this age: "walkin' agether." I let Madeleine walk beside me on the sidewalk while I held her hand, and she loved it. She even drew the attention of an older couple who had to stop and talk with us. Madeleine smiled sweetly at them while wrapping her arms around my leg in a death grip. After that point she was ready to be held, just to be sure she wasn't about to be handed off to some stranger on the sidewalk.