Periwinkle and the Earth

This morning, when I went into Madeleine's room, she gave me a brilliant smile from her bed, then began telling me all about the Periwinkle doll she received from Santa's sack.  Periwinkle, for those not in the Disney Fairy know, is Tinkerbell's long-lost sister in the movie "The Secret of the Wings."  Madeleine, who received a Tinkerbell doll for Christmas, has since put Periwinkle on her wish list for next Christmas.  Apparently she dreamed that she received her wish come true, because she was utterly convinced this morning that Santa had delivered.

MADELEINE: (in wonderment) Mommy!  I knew that Santa was gonna bring me Periwinkle from his BIG SACK!  Mommy, I'm SO HAPPY that I got my Peri doll!

At this point I thought she was just pretending, so I played along, but when we got downstairs, I became aware of the fact that Madeleine truly thought she had received a Peri doll.

MADELEINE: (looking desperately around the living room, then running to me with wide, teary eyes) Mama?  Where's PERI?  I can't FIND her!

As I ushered her into the bathroom to go potty and brush her teeth, I tried to explain to her that she must have dreamed up her Peri doll.  Already annoyed over the loss of her dream come true, Madeleine took MAJOR issue with the fact that Ethan was in the shower while she tried to use the bathroom.

MADELEINE: (exasperated) Mama?  Can Daddy just GET OUT of the SHOWER, because it's TOO LOUD in here!

Once Ethan finished his shower, Madeleine was much more agreeable, even offering her inappropriate but tried-and-true comment of "Nice WORM, Daddy."

It turns out that the loudness of the shower is not the only thing to aggravate Madeleine today.  She simply had no tolerance for the fact that the warmer temps are causing the snow around town to slowly melt.  On our drive home from dropping Julia at school, Madeleine decided to air her grievances about the sun:

MADELEINE: Mama?  Can the sun TURN AWAY from the earth so the snow will NOT MELT?
ME: Well, honey, the problem is: the sun doesn't turn away from the earth, it's the earth that turns away from the sun.  So at night time, our part of earth is turned away from the sun, and that's why it gets dark.  And that's why it gets colder too, and we have frost on the car the next morning.
MADELEINE: Well Mama?  What is the EARTH?
ME: (gesturing around us) THIS is the earth.  We live on earth.  All the land and everything around us is earth.  We live on a big round planet that circles around the sun in space.
MADELEINE: Well Mama?  The Earth doesn't SPIN.
ME: Actually, it does spin.  It spins around while it's circling the sun.
MADELEINE: Well Mama?  The Earth doesn't spin in LIFE.
ME: Yes, it does.  It really does spin in real life.  It's just that it spins so slowly that we can't feel it.  I can't feel the Earth spinning.  Can you?
MADELEINE: No.  We can't feel the spinning!  Well Mama?  The Earth can't touch HOUSES.  Because...it doesn't have ARMS.

She's totally right.  The Earth definitely can't touch houses.  Our house is floating around right above the ground.  Isn't yours?

And finally, back to the subject of inappropriate but tried-and-true: these Barbies are getting more and more "Girls Gone Wild" by the day.

Naked pig pile!!