Madeleine Sings and Plays

When Madeleine got home from school today, she was in a musical mood.  As she stumbled across the instructions to our "Very Hungry Caterpillar" game, she was suddenly inspired by song.  Or, I should say, she was inspired to have someone ELSE sing her the song that was inaudible inside her own head.

MADELEINE: Mama.  Okay.  So: sing "Oh I love green things."
ME: Oh, I love green things.
MADELEINE: No, Mama.  SING it!
ME: (making up a tune) Oh, I love green thiiiiiings...
MADELEINE: No.  Mama!  That's NOT how it goes.  Here Mama.  I'll sing it.  (breaking into melody) Oh, I love green thiiiiiings.  My teddy bear jumps, jumps, jumps, my...(speaking) uh, Mama, actually...it's called "Oh I love BROWN things."  (breaking back into song) Oh, I love brown thiiiiings.  My teddy bear jumps, jumps, jumps!  Chocolate ice cream and caaaaake, oh, my teddy bear spins around, my teddy bear runs, runs, runs... (speaking) Okay.  So Mama.  Sing what you just HEARD.

Needless to say, my efforts were a big flop.

Before I knew it, Madeleine's singing game had turned into a giant to-do, in which I was commanded requested to sit in "the crowd" while she performed for me.  Her first song was "Bungalow Bill," but there was an itty-bitty problem: she had no recollection of how the song goes.  Instead of just choosing another, she made me feed her line by line, which she then sang back to me.  Now THAT'S how a superstar works in concert!

Next up was "Joy to the World."  I even managed to record it so watch this show-stopper!:



Once she was all sung out, Madeleine moved onto a game involving a bat and Julia's ginormous dentist balloon.  Little Bat was looking for her mommy, but Little Bat's mommy doesn't LOVE her.  The evidence is plain: Little Bat's mommy won't let her wear the outfits that Little Bat wants to wear.  So Little Bat somehow got lost from her mom and is now trying to find her, but she can't fly, because bats can ONLY fly when they're with their mommies.  Little Bat hitched a ride on Julia's balloon and set off in search of her mommy, but she encountered some adversity along the way.  Not only did she fall off the balloon and plunge to the ground, but there was a big windstorm that blew the balloon away, taking Little Bat even FARTHER from her destination.  Luckily, Madeleine called in an invisible Diego to help save the day. 

MADELEINE: Mommy!  Diego thought that I was an ANIMAL!
ME: What kind of animal?
MADELEINE: A puma.
ME: What did Diego do??
MADELEINE: He just...the ball was clearing the way so he could see me, and then he saw me because I was EMILY, and I was a person.  So he saw me RIGHT when I was EXPECTING he could do it!  And he DID it, and he ran OFF to me, and I called him because I needed him, and I didn't want to say "aiuda me," because that was more OUTSIDE.

Makes perfect sense, no?

At any rate, Madeleine concluded her game with a lesson on how to handle a bat that I hope she realizes should NEVER, EVER actually be done on a real bat:

MADELEINE: So, Mama.  Here's what you do.  You just put your hand RIGHT OVER the bat's MOUTH.
ME: Well, Madeleine, do you know you should NEVER touch a bat's mouth, because it could bite you?
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  You just do it very GENTLY.

No, no you don't.  Unless you're looking to dabble a bit with rabies.

At any rate, Little Bat is now happily taking a rest, having ditched the plan to find her mother, and cozying up instead with her human hosts.  A happy ending for all!

Little Bat