While she herself didn't mind trying to talk with mounds of pancake stuffed into her mouth, Madeleine showed she had no tolerance for anyone else talking with her mouth full. As Auntie Caitlyn attempted to eat a hurried lunch before I took her to the airport for her flight home, she was suckered into reading "The Lorax" to a very eager Madeleine. Taking quick bites in between pages, Caitlyn spoke with a mouthful of turkey sandwich. Madeleine was quick to criticize her entertainer. "Auntie Caitlyn, why are you talking like a BOY?" she asked.
While Auntie Caitlyn had to fly home this afternoon, she at least had one more morning with her nieces, which was a huge help to me because I needed to be in two places at once. Luckily, Auntie C was able to take Julia to swim lessons while I brought Madeleine in for her 3-year-old checkup.
And what a checkup it was. Madeleine was totally not afraid to expose her full-blown personality to the nurse, med student, and doctor. During her hearing check, she initially had a little trouble understanding that she was supposed to raise her hand every time she heard a beep, then lower her hand, then raise her OTHER hand the next time she heard a beep. After several attempts, she finally got the hang of it, to the loud praise of both the nurse and Mommy. I guess we should have kept our applause under wraps, however; once the nurse switched ears, Madeleine became over-confident, not even waiting to hear beeps before raising one hand and then the other. As the test progressed, Madeleine obliviously flapped her hands around in the air, executing ballerina-like hand motions with a look of far-off dreaminess on her face.
Luckily, the nurse decided to stop the struggle and assume Madeleine's hearing was fine.
When the med student asked Madeleine how high she can count, Madeleine opted to count in a goofy baby-talk voice, so I tried to deflect her buoyant declarations of "ONE! DOO! FEE! FOW!" by suggesting she show them how she counts in "Hide and Seek." Next thing I knew, Madeleine positioned herself in the center of the examining room, covered both her eyes, and began counting aloud: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, READY OR NOT, HERE I COOOME!"
At the end of the visit, Madeleine had to get her finger pricked to collect blood for lead and iron tests, as well as get her flu shot. Even the nurse was impressed by what a trooper Madeleine was, emitting nary a cry or complaint. And even though Madeleine warned the nurse, just before getting the flu shot, that "I'm just going to say 'OW," she didn't utter a sound after all. I guess all those play doctor-kit shots that she and Julia perform on each other gave her arms of steel!
Later in the day, after Auntie Caitlyn was gone, the girls got to play with their baby-sitter while I went off to work. When I came home, I was immediately enchanted by two spooky witches. As they wildly waved their wands at me, instructing me to "GO TO SLEEP!", I manged to snap a few pictures. Don't worry, Julia wasn't too caught up in her witch game to forget her model face. Here she is, showing off her fierce runway witch look:
The witch fashion model shoot had to come to an end when Julia announced she needed to go to Book Club. I didn't know witches belong to book clubs, did you? I guess witches deserve the right to feed their minds just as much as us regular mortals, right? Witches on the runway AND in the libraries: now that's progress!
Hahahahahaha - I loved "Work it Broomhilda! The camera loves you!" Courtney - those are just two weirdos if I ever knew them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad Madeleine was able to get to "ten" without getting stuck on that tricky number "twen"!
I miss you guys so much already!!