A Gift for Me

This afternoon, I spotted Madeleine hard at work on something at the dining room table.

ME: Are you doing your writing homework, Madeleine?

MADELEINE: Um, not yet; I'll do it after this, but DON'T LOOK.

ME: Okay.

MADELEINE: (dramatically shielding her paper from me) DON'T LOOK, Mommy.

ME: I won't.

A moment later, I too sat down at the dining room table to do something on my computer.

MADELEINE: NO LOOKING.

ME: Okay, I'm not.

A few minutes later, while I was in the bathroom, Madeleine started shouting questions at me.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  What color hair, if you could have ANY COLOR IN THE WORLD, would you want?

ME: Um...

MADELEINE: ANY color.

ME: Blue.

MADELEINE: You can't pick blue.

ME: Oh.  Then...maybe...red.  Like, strawberry blonde.

MADELEINE: Okay.

(Pause)

MADELEINE: Mommy?  What color nail polish would be your favorite AND YOU CAN'T CHOOSE BLUE.

ME: Okay...well, if I can't choose blue, then...purple.

MADELEINE: I don't have purple.

ME: Oh.  Then...I guess...pink.

MADELEINE: Okay.

(Pause)

MADELEINE: Mommy?  Would you rather have blue skin or green skin?

ME: Blue skin.

MADELEINE: Would you rather be KIND or be an outcast?

ME: I'd rather be kind.

MADELEINE: Would you rather be an OUTCAST with blue skin, or KIND with green skin?

ME: Kind with green skin.

MADELEINE: Yes!  I got you to pick GREEN!

I guess that green versus blue skin part was a red herring, or else was just simply a topic of Madeleine's curiosity, because a few minutes later I was presented with this delightful piece of art:

                                                       Courtney the Magical Elephant!!

I got my blue skin after all!  And I have to say, throughout all of Madeleine's questions and her commands not to look, I would NEVER have guessed I would get a picture of myself as a winged, unicorn-horned blue elephant with pink toenails.  Madeleine managed to pull off quite the surprise!