ME: Julia, do you want some milk?
JULIA: I don't know. What I really want is snack.
ME: Well, you're about to go to a birthday party, so you'll have snack there.
JULIA: (sharply) No we won't!
ME: What, you don't think you'll have cake at the party?
JULIA: Cake is not snack!
ME: Sure it is. It's a treat you're eating in the afternoon, the same as any other snack.
MADELEINE: (wisely) Yeah, Julia, BESIDES, it's only MORNING.
JULIA: (scathingly) No it isn't! It's one in the afternoon!
MADELEINE: (with utmost confidence) Well, Julia, the afternoon IS the morning.
JULIA: (with irritated condescension) No it ISN'T, Madeleine.
Typical Madeleine, totally with the program. Typical Julia, ready to SMACK DOWN THAT NONSENSE her sister is talking.
It doesn't help Madeleine's credibility that while she and Julia discussed whether morning is afternoon, Madeleine was wearing this hat from the dress-up bin:
ME: I like your hat, Madeleine. So, you just decided you felt like wearing a hat from the dress-up bin?
MADELEINE: Uh, Mama, so, I'm this little girl, and I'm taking a waaaalk...uh, I'm actually not taking a walk, I'm having a picnic.
ME: Oh. Okay.
I mean, it's no secret that the girls are both extremely imaginative. We've got Julia's made-up inner world of the Mintz, about which she'll share details if she's in the right mood. For instance, yesterday I was able to glean that while she galloped, Julia was thinking about the Mintz watching/playing Super Mario Brothers. Specifically, Lilly Mintz was playing while the others watched, but, according to Julia, "Jastina, Jessica and Max also play it."
Sometimes she's less ready to take us into her inner mind, however.
ETHAN: (watching Julia repeatedly gallop back and forth through the living room) So Julia, what are the Mintz up to?
JULIA: (a huge, slightly embarrassed smile spreading across her face) Uh...STUFF!
And then there's Madeleine, who can literally make up a pretend-play game with parts of her own body. As I was driving to the car dealership this past week for my yearly inspection, I heard Madeleine talking in the back seat.
ME: What did you say, honey?
MADELEINE: Uh, no, Mama...these fingers are talking to THESE fingers. (holding up both hands.)
So, yeah. Instant entertainment anywhere we go. (So long as Julia has space to gallop, because, for whatever reason, she can only think about the Mintz when she's galloping.)
With all of these wild and crazy thoughts going through the girls' minds, it is no wonder that Madeleine can believe that morning and afternoon are the same thing. And I guess Julia only knew what was what because she didn't happen to be galloping when she asserted that it wasn't morning. I suppose, had she been galloping, we would have had to check in with Lilly or Jastina as to what time of day it was in the Mintz world.
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