Madeleine, the Peeing Chatterbox

Around 4:15 this morning, I heard a loud thud coming from Madeleine's room, followed by crying.  I went rushing in, only to find that both Ethan and a sleepy, bed-headed Julia had also gone running in. 

ME: Madeleine, what's the matter, honey?  Did you fall out of your bed?
MADELEINE: I peeeeed on the flooooooor!

I turned on the lights to find Madeleine sitting on the floor, her underwear around her ankles, with a big wet stain surrounding her.  Ethan and I sent Julia back to bed, reassured Madeleine that sometimes accidents happen, and that she had done the right thing in trying to get out of bed and to the bathroom, and then Ethan began the process of pee clean-up while I brought Madeleine downstairs to clean her legs off.

Once I had Madeleine back in bed, I climbed in with her to offer sleep-inducing snuggles, while Ethan repeatedly patted paper towels over the rug to sop up the last of the pee.

This is when I found out that Madeleine had actually been trying to handle her own pee problem for quite some time.

"Mommy!" she lamented.  "First I peed in my PINK pajama pants, THEN I peed in my HEART pajama pants, and then I peed on the FLOOR.  All I can do is pee, pee, pee!"

I found the slightly wet heart pajama pants in her bed, with a discarded pair of underwear inside them.  I found the pink pajama pants, which she had worn to bed, draped over her laundry hamper.  I am not entirely sure how it came to be that she was in and out of two different pairs of pajama pants and then still managed to pee on the rug, but I do applaud her efforts to take care of the problem on her own without waking us up.  However, perhaps if she had simply gotten herself down onto the potty BEFORE attempting to change pajama pants, the whole peeing-on-the-rug incident wouldn't have occurred and the entire household wouldn't have been awoken.

My attempts at soporific snuggles proved futile.  Madeleine had WAY too much to chatter about as I lay, trying to calm her down.

MADELEINE: Mama?  At first, I didn't know what Daddy was doing with the paper towels on the floor, and I was like, "Daddy?" and he was like, "Yes?" and I was like, "What are you DOING?" and he was like, "I'm cleaning up the pee," and-
ME: Madeleine.  No more talking.  You need to get back to sleep.
MADELEINE: Mama?  On Curious George, I'm SCARED of the part when they said that the scarecrow got so angry about being headless that he didn't like anyone to wear a HAT, until...the night it lost its HEAD to KICK peoples' hats off.
ME: Shhh.  No more talking.
MADELEINE: And it will continue, until it gets a NEW head.
ME: Madeleine.  Time to go to sleep.  No talking.
MADELEINE: Mama?  I know how to speak with a BRITISH accent.
ME: Shhh.  No talking.
MADELEINE: (affecting an English accent) They're GHAHHHHHSTLY!

So I decided to leave her to babble at herself and went back to my own bed so that at least one of us could get some more sleep.

Madeleine had the chance to be a chatterbox once again during the day today, as she had her long-awaited dental cleaning.  Just as she had during her doctor visit, Madeleine chose to elaborate upon every answer she gave to even the simplest of questions.

DENTAL HYGIENIST: So Madeleine, what are you gonna be for Halloween next week?
MADELEINE: Sooooo, for the SPOOKY WALK I was...a BLACK CAT!  And for...for...for...for Halloween...
ME: You're also gonna be a black cat.
MADELEINE: For THIS Halloween I'm gonna be a black cat, and for...for...for...for the NEXT Halloween, I'm gonna be Emily Binx.

Okay then.  Now the hygienist won't have to ask that question next October, because Madeleine has already informed her of her Halloween plans a year from now.

At least Madeleine pauses in her chattering to ask questions of others every once in awhile.  After she added some decorative touches with marker to the October song Julia's teacher had sent home,:

Madeleine held the sheet up to me to inquire: "Mama?  How much MATH SCIENCE does it take to MEASURE down to the sort of DRYING OUT marker color?"

Gotta admit it.  I'm stumped on that one.  I think my kid may be smarter than I am at math science, because I really have no idea how to solve that problem.