Dogs and Ponies

Madeleine was busy making artwork this morning, including this incredibly creepy drawing of Auntie Shannon's dog, Clara:

Sheesh.  No wonder Madeleine is scared of Clara, if that's the image she has in her mind.

In other news, this afternoon, we had another walking adventure to and from Julia's school, even though Madeleine had wiped out big-time on yesterday's walk and scraped up both of her knees.  She didn't seem to have learned her lesson, unfortunately, as she set off blazing again today.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  Can I RUN?
ME: Only if you go slowly, because I don't want you to fall again.
MADELEINE: OKAAAAY! (taking off at lightning speed and stumbling twice on her way down the driveway.)

We were about a quarter-mile down the road before her first full wipe-out.  After standing up and having me kiss the scraped-up palms of her hands, she was off and running again, this time downhill.

ME: Slow down!  MADELEINE!  I don't want you to fall again!
MADELEINE: Okaaaay!  I woooon't!
ME: Madeleine!  Slow down!  I'm afraid you're going to fall!
MADELEINE: I woooon't! (tripping over her feet, wiping out, and tumbling around along the sidewalk.)

I guess that fall finally humbled her, because as we walked home, she took a different mobile tactic.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  I can do AMAZING leaps, but I can't RUN!

In lieu of running, Madeleine then decided that we all needed to play My Little Pony.  We were assigned our usual roles, and anything besides sheer and utter immersion into the game was deemed unacceptable.

ME: Julia!  Hurry up, keep walking because you said you need to get home and go pee.
MADELEINE: Uh, no, her name is PINKIE PIE!

JULIA: Um, Mommy?  Today at school-
MADELEINE: No, that's RARITY!

As I mentioned above, Julia was in a hurry to get home and get on the potty, and for the most part we kept a pretty consistent pace, but the closer we got to home, the more distracted the girls got from the task at hand.  It's hard to say whether Madeleine's decision to suddenly bear-crawl along the sidewalk or the girls' collective stopping to gaze dreamily at the house of Julia's classmate was more of a hindrance upon our swift arrival home.  At any rate, we made it back in time for Julia to get onto the potty, despite this announcement on our walk:


JULIA: (delighted) Mama, I'm even PUSHING, but no pee is coming out!  (pausing) Well, MAYBE a little tiny drop of pee.

This comment comes in the aftermath of a day about a month ago, upon which Julia was hurrying to get home and use the toilet, and accidentally leaked a little pee into her underwear.  Why?  Because: "Mama, I was pushing, and by accident a little PEE came out!"  I have NO idea why it didn't cross her mind NOT to push when her bladder was extremely full and she was hurrying home to get to the toilet, but she was certainly upset to discover that the outcome of "pushing" was droplets of pee in her underwear.

As I tried valiantly to urge the girls along during the last leg of our walk, I guess I wasn't embodying my role as Rarity well enough, because Madeleine felt the need to reprimand me.

MADELEINE: (frustrated) Mom?  Can you stop making MOMMY voices and make some RARITY voices?

I guess I should have let Trixie continue her bear-walk home and let Pinkie Pie pee in her pants so as not to disrupt the continuity of the game.  EPIC FAIL on my part.