Cheeks, Potty, and Pretend Play

Last night before bed, I started getting too enamored with Madeleine's fleshy, kissable little cheeks and I got that truly bizarre, but universal, desire to take a huge chomp out of them. "Madeleine, can I eat you for dessert?" I asked her. Usually she allows me to take pretend chomps out of her cheeks and give her big smooshy kisses, but last night she just wasn't game. "Uh, you want some bread?" she offered me, conciliatory. "No, I just want some Madeleine cheeks for dessert!" I exclaimed, to which she laughed nervously and then attempted to wriggle herself down off of my lap on the couch.

Bummer. No Madeleine cheeks for me.

This morning, once Julia was off at school, Madeleine herself seemed to have an endless appetite, downing bread, two bowls of goldfish, and two cups of milk. Next thing I knew, she was frantically running towards the bathroom, needing to poop. I have no idea why both my children felt the need to strip down naked in order to poop at this age, but Madeleine has completely followed suit, and just like Julia, must have all her clothes off in order to be comfortable enough to poop. And, may I point out, Julia has been weaned from this habit for years now, so it's not like Madeleine has actually seen Julia's example and is trying to parrot it. No, for some very odd reason, both my children need to be free of any clothing restraints when they poop, although Madeleine does not shout to me from behind closed doors, and instead entertains herself with toys while she uses the potty, so at least I don't have to sit around shouting answers through the door to her.

I guess she felt so free and unconfined with her clothes off that she decided to keep them off even after she was off the potty. So off she went to the windowsill in just undies and a ponytail, setting up a pretend play game with Unicornio, Dora Mermaid, and Sleeping Booty:




A little excerpt from her pretend play dialogue:

UNICORNIO: Hi, Sleeping Booty.
SLEEPING BOOTY: AAAAAAHHH! It's ROUGH day. Waaah, waaaah.
UNICORNIO: Who's cryin'?
SLEEPING BOOTY: It's a rough day, Unicornio.
DORA: It's okay, Sleeping Booty. It's just a rough day.
UNICORNIO: Dora, are you okay?
DORA: I'm okay. (falling off the windowsill)
MADELEINE: (screaming in frustration, then getting over it and picking Dora up and settling her back on the windowsill.)
UNICORNIO: (flying off the windowsill)
DORA: Hey, Unicornio, where are you going?
UNICORNIO: To the palace. To take a picture of my feet.
MADELEINE: (running into the dining room) Mommy? Can you take a picture of Unicornio's feet?
ME: Uh, okay.



MADELEINE: Oh, no! I forgot my DUCKIE! (running off to get Puddles, who then joined the game.)
PUDDLES: Ta-DAAAA! Can I ride on you, Unicornio?
UNICORNIO: Sure you can.
PUDDLES: Unicornio! Where you GOING?

Soon Dora and Diego were also riding on Unicornio.

DORA AND DIEGO: (climbing on Unicornio) Let's drive aboard! Let's drive aboard! Do it! FRIENDS!

Next thing I knew, Dora and Diego were violently beating each other up and screaming.

DORA AND DIEGO: NO! WE DON'T HIT EACH OTHER!
DIEGO: (perfectly civil) Are you okay, Dora?
DORA: Yeah.
DORA AND DIEGO: (dancing around together) Yay! Don't forget your doggie! Don't forget your doggie! And come on, VAMONOS!

It's a good thing the plot and dialogue in her game are so easy to follow. I totally get what's going on.

Now, I am off to the doctor to get Julia's ears checked. Come on, Julia! VAMONOS! FRIENDS!