My Kids are...Um...Imaginative

Proof that my kids are living in worlds of their own.


#1: In which Julia causes Ethan to comment, "Oh, so she's crazy."

JULIA: (singing a dramatic rendition of "Indian Song" in her room) Iiiiiii knoooooow what the Indians know.  Iiiiii goooooo where the Indians go....
AUNTIE SHANNON: (walking by Julia's room) What on earth got that song in your head?
JULIA: Lilly was singing it.
AUNTIE SHANNON: Lilly knows that song?
JULIA: Lilly from the Mintz!

Yes, that's right.  Julia was neither referring to her own friend Lily, nor to Madeleine's friend Lilly.  The imaginary Lilly who lives in Julia's brain was the one singing the song that Julia then got stuck in her head.


#2 In which Madeleine cannot differentiate between a hotel and an apartment, as we visit (the real) Lilly.

ME: Madeleine, we're going to drop by the hotel Lilly is staying at to bring them a dinner I cooked.
MADELEINE: Why do we have to bring them a dinner?
ME: Well, because the stove in their hotel suite is pretty small, so it has been hard for them to cook dinners there.
MADELEINE: Mama?  Auntie Caitlyn lives in a hotel, but she has a big stove.
ME: Well, Auntie Caitlyn lives in an APARTMENT.  An apartment building might look like a hotel building, but the difference is that an apartment is a place where someone lives, and where they cook their meals every day.  A hotel is a place where someone stays for a short while, like if they're on vacation, or if they're having repairs done on their house, like Lilly is.  So there's usually just a small little stove in hotel kitchenettes.
MADELEINE: Well, Auntie Caitlyn's hotel room is pretty small.
ME: Auntie Caitlyn's apartment is small, but she still has a big enough stove to cook things on.

After the visit...

MADELEINE: Mama, I can't wait to have ANOTHER play-date with Lilly so we can stay longer and play at her APARTMENT!

At that point, I gave up.


#3: In which Madeleine proves that I truly, absolutely cannot ever know what's going on in her head.

MADELEINE: Mama.  Watch THIS. (holding two fingers in the shape of a sideways "V" and connecting them to two "V" shaped fingers on the other hand)
ME: Cool.
MADELEINE: Mama.  Why did you say "cool?"
ME: Because you made a shape.
MADELEINE: I didn't make a shape.  I made a MAKKIN!


Seriously.  How could I *not* know that two sets of fingers in a "V" do not make a shape, but instead make a "makkin," or "napkin" as the rest of us in the world like to call it.  I guess I was fooled by the fact that the interior of the makkin was AIR, which would not actually perform the service that a makkin is intended to perform.  Silly me.  If the imaginary Lilly Mintz can get a song stuck in Julia's head, then OF COURSE Madeleine can put her fingers together and make a makkin out of air.