Madeleine the Half-Cheetah

Madeleine continues to carry on as if she is half-cheetah.  Not only does she need to run half a street-length ahead of Julia and I on our walk home from school ("I *have* to run ahead because I'm half-cheetah and cheetahs are FAST RUNNERS!"), but she has taken to making raspy snarling sounds at anyone who crosses her.  This happens to Julia particularly often, which typically serves to incite Julia's irritation.

MADELEINE: (snarling at Julia)
JULIA: (with complete condescension) Madeleine.  You're NOT half-cheetah.
MADELEINE: (urgently) Yes I am!

Madeleine claims that she became half-cheetah by hanging out with the Wild Kratts.  It seems that her hang-out times occur at school during recess.

MADELEINE: Well, Mama, I like to think about the Wild Kratts when I go on the SWINGS, and *that's* what I mean by "hanging out" with them.

So, basically, the Wild Kratts are like the Lilly Mintz of Madeleine's brain.  She needs to "think" about them while doing something active.  The major difference is that Julia only broadcasts the doings of the Mintz to her own (real) family.  She doesn't convince people at school that the Mintz are a real family that she knows.  Madeleine, on the other hand, has had no problem making "known" her hybrid species status to her friends at school.

Julia relayed the fact that as her class was passing the kindergarten class at school last week, she called out to Madeleine, "Hi, my little darling sister who thinks she's half-cheetah but she's really not!"  To which Madeleine's best friend exclaimed defensively, "She is!"

I guess maybe I should just face the reality that my child has grown some cheetah DNA.  All this time I thought it was a game of pretend, but it seems that everyone at school knows the real truth about Madeleine the Half-Human, Half-Cheetah warrior.