Pictures

Madeleine has long been interrupting the stories we read to her in order to ask questions about every single picture on every single page.  Starting way back in her "What happened to his MOUTH?" phase, in which she struggled to understand the complicated emotions the various characters were experiencing in the drawings, she has, over time, grown able to refine her questions and elaborate upon her concerns regarding each picture.  Of course, this makes the book-reading at least twice as long, especially since she likes to follow up each answer I give with a further question. 

Today, as we read through "Aladdin," she had a LOT to ask about.  Here are some of her most pressing concerns:

Now, when I view this picture, my general sense of the scene revolves around Jasmine and Jafar arguing.  Perhaps Jafar's serpent staff may grab my attention as well.  But Madeleine sees it in a whole different way.  Not bothering to remark upon Jasmine, Jafar, OR the staff, she is instead curious about the overhanging lamps.  (At least that's what I'm guessing they are.)  Pointing to the one near Jasmine's head, Madeleine asked me, "But Mommy?  Why is this ANGRY?"  Wow.  Way to notice the finer details, Madeleine.  I would never have given one iota of attention towards the subject, but thanks to Madeleine, I now have a new mystery to contemplate.  Why is the overhanging lamp angry?  I'm truly stumped.  Anyone want to weigh in, here?

This picture, for me, primarily conveys the idea that Aladdin is near dead, weighted down on the bottom of the ocean floor, and the genie is showing his concern for his master.  Madeleine was more interested in a different issue.  Pointing at Aladdin's head, she asked me, "Mommy?  Why is his hair STICKING OUT OF HIS BRAIN like that?"

This image elicited two highly relevant questions from Madeleine.  #1: "Mommy?  But why is everybody wearing their JAMMIES?"  And #2, in reference to the Genie: "Mommy?  What are all those BUMPS all over the blue genie?"  I tried to explain the concept of muscles for her, even attempting to make my explanation concrete by rolling up my sleeve and flexing my bicep for her.  I guess my muscles are much smaller and less remarkable than I thought, because when I asked her if she wanted to feel the "bump" made by my muscle, she instead began caressing one of the moles on my arm. 

Upon seeing this picture, Madeleine was initially concerned about her bumpy genie friend.  "Uh, Mommy?  What happened to the BLUE GENIE?" she inquired.  After learning that this red genie was, in fact, Jafar, and that the blue genie was still around, just not shown in the picture, Madeleine began to contemplate other matters.  Pointing to the red genie, she demanded, "But why is he SQUEEZING?"
 

Madeleine took great comic delight in the above picture.  Pointing at the genie, she squealed, "Why is he a DOG BOY CONSTRUCTION BOY?"

I was able to answer why the genie is bumpy.  I don't really know why he's a dog boy construction boy.  Anyone else want to wager a guess?

Finally, Madeleine had a picture of her own that we brought home from school today.  She had traced a house shape with a stencil, coloring it in red to match our own house, and drawing our family outside of it:

According to child psychologists, I must be the central, most important figure in Madeleine's life: OR she just happens to think I'm a giant, because according to Madeleine, the biggest person in the picture is Mommy.  Below me is Madeleine.  To the left of me is Daddy, who appears to have two heads.  And below the two-headed Daddy is Julia.  Madeleine offered a bit of clarification on the two-headed monster that is Daddy: one of the heads belongs to her, Madeleine.  Now what would child psychologists say about THAT?!?  Unfortunately, my asking about the double-headed Daddy caused Madeleine a great amount of lamentation.  Perfectionist that she is, she found it COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE that there be TWO Madeleines in the picture.  She suddenly began imploring me to fix her enormous flub-up disaster.  "Uh, Mommy, can you just WIPE THAT ONE off, because...I don't want TWO MADELEINES." 

Unfortunately for Madeleine, we can't erase marker, so she will have to live on in this picture as Ethan's conjoined twin.