Knowledge

Madeleine has been showing off her knowledge today.

MADELEINE: Mommy!  I know the INTENDENT'S name!  It's Dan!
JULIA: The what's name, Madeleine?
MADELEINE: The INTENDENTS.
JULIA: The ATTENDANCE?  The attendance who??  Who does the attendance?
MADELEINE: The INTENDENTS.
JULIA: Madeleine.  There's no such thing as intendents.
MADELEINE: Yes there is!
JULIA: What's does "intendents" mean?
MADELEINE: It's like...the school person...like...the school...
ME: Julia, I think she means "Superintendent."
MADELEINE: (brightly) Oh!  Yeah!  That's what it's called!

And then, as we drove to a play-date in the rain:

MADELEINE: Mommy!  I just realized something.  (Speaking wisely and philosophically) Rain is nature's CAR WASH!

These astute statements comes from the same brainiac that made this observation today:

MADELEINE: Mommy?  Even with, like, a PEBBLE, when I try to throw a rock in the air and bounce it off my hand, it really HURTS.

I like the fact that she actually had to even try that to know it was going to hurt.  What a budding scientist!  No guessing around here; she follows through with her experiment to get accurate data.  Does a boulder hurt?  Yes.  Does a medium sized rock hurt?  Yes.  Does a small rock hurt?  Yes.  Does a pebble hurt?  Yes.  CONCLUSION: bouncing rocks off of one's hand is not a good idea.