Opposites

Madeleine and I have been working on the concept of "opposites" lately, ever since I discovered that she doesn't actually know what an opposite is.

(MADELEINE: Mommy!  The Cat in Hat said "opposites!"
ME: Yeah!  Opposites!  Do you know what opposites are?
MADELEINE: Yeah!
ME: So, what's the opposite of "big?"
MADELEINE: Uh...the opposite of "big" is "B!")

Once she became more fully aware of what the word "opposite" actually means, after hearing some examples, she was able to adequately identify the opposite of whatever word I threw at her.

Today, on our car ride home from school, while she talked all about her polar bear art project, I decided to see if she remembered our recent discussion of opposites.

MADELEINE: Oh, my polar bear is nice and toasty and HOT in this car!
ME: So, Madeleine, what's the opposite of "hot?"
MADELEINE: HOT.  H-h-h- uh, "H!"
ME: The opposite of "hot" is "cold."  The opposite of "big" is "small."  So...what is the opposite of "high?"
MADELEINE: Uh...LOW.
ME: Hooray!  Great job!  What is the opposite of "sleeping?"
MADELEINE: Um...AWAKE.
ME: YES!  You got it!  How about the opposite of "happy?"
MADELEINE: Uh...SAD.
ME: Yeah!  Good job!

I guess I made the opposites game seem too fun, because before I know it, Madeleine wanted to quiz ME on opposites.

MADELEINE: Mom.  So.  What's the opposite of "house?"
ME: Uh...um...house, huh?  Uh...apartment building?
MADELEINE: (with enthusiasm) YES!  Great JOB!  What's the opposite of...CAR?
ME: Of car?  Um...hmmm...uh, bike?
MADELEINE: YAY!  You got it!  Mom.  What's the opposite of TREE?

So apparently our next step will be learning which things have tangible opposites and which do not.  What is the opposite of tree?  Rock?  Anyone have any idea??

Once we got home, Madeleine forgot all about opposites because she was SO excited over her new buddy, Poly the Polar Bear, aka the aforementioned polar bear art project.

MADELEINE: Hooray!  Now I'm really happy and safe with my DEAR FRIEND Poly the Polar Bear.

And on the subject of art projects, can we all take a moment to appreciate this drawing I found in Julia's pile of artwork recently?

Don't mess with the Fog Prince, man, or the Statue of Liberty and/or the ogre holding a phallic-shaped club (or possibly flipping us the bird) are COMING for you.