Madeleine Says...

The things Madeleine says.  To other people.  That she sometimes barely even knows.


When I was walking down to the Sunday School classroom to pick up the kids after church this weekend, I overheard Madeleine piping up in response to something her teacher had said about exercise.

MADELEINE: My daddy exercises, but...he doesn't get SKINNY, because he eats too much desserty things.

Later on, I asked Madeleine what brought her to make the above comment.

MADELEINE: Oh.  'Cause we were talking about Saint Anthony.  How he exercises.
ME: What kind of exercises does he do?
MADELEINE: He does Saint stuff!  Like helping people.

Whether the Sunday School discussion had been about exercising or exorcising is now unclear to me.


Moving along to this morning, Madeleine had a play-date at the house of a new friend from swim team.  Apparently the subject of what her parents do came up, as the friend's mother reported to me that Madeleine told them "Mommy teaches piano lessons, and Daddy just has a regular job."

I discussed this with Madeleine after the play-date.

ME: Did you say that I also teach preschool?
MADELEINE: Uh, no.  I forgot.  Because...I can never remember all the jobs you do.
ME: Oh.  And what kind of regular job does Daddy do?
MADELEINE: Uh...his work?
ME: But what kind of work does he do at his job?
MADELEINE: Regular work.
ME: What kind of regular work?
MADELEINE: Uh...he makes money for us?
ME: Doing what?
MADELEINE: His computer?
ME: Right. 
MADELEINE: Wait.  Mama.  Does Daddy *really* do work with computers?
ME: Yes.  Daddy is a computer programmer.
MADELEINE: Oh!  Mama!  I was just GUESSING!


And, finally, Madeleine brought up the subject of Ethan's shovelling-related busted knee this evening, in an attempt to understand how he had hurt himself today.

MADELEINE: Poor, poor Daddy with his poor, poor knee.
ME: I know, I feel so bad for him.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  How DID he hurt his knee?
ME: I don't know.  I don't think he really knows.  Maybe he twisted it.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  How DID he do it?
ME: He doesn't know.  It just started hurting when he was shovelling and now it hurt to walk.
MADELEINE: Maybe...he was shovelling too much.  Or...mmmm...maybe he got a certain kind of frostbite.  Because...I bet there's a LOT of different KINDS of frostbite!

Right.  He got the kind of frostbite that doesn't go away even when indoors and half a day has passed.  That's why he's still hobbling around.  The worst thing for Ethan is that now he is unable to ride his stationary bike, so he can't do his usual daily exercise.  I guess he's REALLY not gonna get skinny now.  Unless he can exorcise his demons and stay away from all the desserty foods.