A New Game, and more

Last night, Madeleine made up the most incredible new game.

MADELEINE: Okay, Mom, let's play a GAME!  You have to guess the ANIMAL.  Okay, Mom.  It's an ORCA WHALE.  So...is it an orca whale, is it a dolphin, is it a pony, or is it a shark?
ME: Um...an orca whale?
MADELEINE: (smiling delightedly) YES!  You got it!

I'm a GENIUS.

Then it was my turn.

ME: Okay.  Is it a rooster, is it a chicken, is it a dog, is it a cow, or is it a sheep?
MADELEINE: A cow?
ME: Nope.
MADELEINE: A sheep?
ME: Nope.
MADELEINE: Uh, Mom, what is it?
ME: You have to guess.
MADELEINE: I can't.
ME: Should I give you a hint?
MADELEINE: Yes.
ME: It goes "cock-a-doodle-doooo!"
MADELEINE: (brightly) A chicken!!
ME: Nope.
MADELEINE: A rooster?
ME: Yes!!

And so forth.  It was fun times, let me tell you.  As Madeleine began running out of animals to think of, objects around the living room like "dollhouse" and "blanket" got thrown into the mix, and then, when she had exhausted even those options, Lion King characters took their place.



Later in the evening, once she had tired of her game, Madeleine brought me a book to read her, "Dora the Explorer: What Will I Be," in which Dora considers several career options for her future.  Madeleine was particularly intrigued by the picture of Dora playing a flute.

MADELEINE: But Mom?  Why is Dora SINGING?
ME: She's playing her flute.  She's saying maybe she'll be a musician when she grows up.
MADELEINE: (stumbling over the word) A musi- a magi- a mugician?
ME: Do you know what a musician is?  Mommy is a musician!  A musician is someone who does MUSIC for their career.
MADELEINE: But why does Dora look like a KID?
ME: Because she's not grown up yet. She's just pretending and imagining what she wants to do when she does grow up.  What kind of job do YOU want to have when you grow up?
MADELEINE: Um...BASEBALL!
ME: You wanna be a baseball player?
MADELEINE: Yeah.  When I grow up and turn into a mommy, I wanna do the GOOD baseball!

Okay then.  Julia stated earlier this school year that she wants to be a waitress when she grows up, and Madeleine wants to do the good baseball.  Glad they've got their careers mapped out for themselves already.

And while Julia's latest school fill-in-the-blanks have not been about her future career, they have shed some insight into her likes and dislikes.  Check out this St. Patrick's Day worksheet she did at school yesterday.  While her answers, at first glance, may appear to be names of ancient Incan gods or something of the sort, you may be able to figure them out if you try hard enough.  (I'll provide an answer key further down if you don't wish to play "sound out the kindergarten spelling"):

Standard English translation:
-Eat quesadillas
-Go New Hampshire
-Find money
-Play tag
-See stars
-Get American Girls
-Have kittens

Most of these can be achievable, although seeing as she's not a female cat, I don't think Julia will be able to have kittens at any point in her life.  She can certainly buy or adopt a kitten for a pet when she's an adult and living on her own, though.

And speaking of Amarukin Grls, she brought her most precious Amarukin Grl, Linsy (Julia insists on this particular spelling of the name "Lindsey") to school today for her Star of the Week show and tell.  I had planned to try and get a picture of her with her doll this morning to post on the blog, but instead we were late to school because Julia couldn't find any socks she likes and consequently was having the WORST DAY EVER.

Such is life.