Talking with Madeleine

Some interesting (and wacky) conversations with Madeleine today:

Driving home from church, listening (per Julia's request) to "Jesus Christ, Superstar"
JULIA: (hearing the music from "The Last Supper" starting) Oh, Mama, Madeleine will be happy to hear her favorite song!
ME: I know, she loves this one.
APOSTLES SINGING: Look at all my trials and tribulations, sinking in a gentle pool of wine, don't disturb me now, I can see the answers, 'til this evening is this morning life is fine... etc, etc
JULIA AND MADELEINE: (silent, listening)

At this point, Jesus entered, singing a completely different melody and words from that of the apostles, though the "trials and tribulations" music would continually return throughout the long "Last Supper" track. However, the short wait until the apostle music began again proved to be too much for Madeleine to handle.

MADELEINE: (dolorously, from the back seat) Mommy!
ME: What's the matter, honey?
MADELEINE: (in near-tearful lamentation) I just really miss "The Last Supper!"


Madeleine's conversation between two of her fairies, Sparkle and Rosetta, while she pooped on the potty:
ROSETTA: Hi.
SPARKLE: Hi.
ROSETTA: (showing off her wings) I got WIDE OPEN!
SPARKLE: I don't got wide open.
MADELEINE: (Pointing at Sparkle and turning to me) Mommy, she don't got wide open!
ME: She doesn't huh?
ROSETTA: Yeah, you don't got WIDE OPEN.


Rosetta, who's got wide open.


Sparkle, who don't got wide open.


Singing Madeleine her bedtime lullaby:
MADELEINE: Can you sing another song?
ME: What song would you like?
MADELEINE: How about Rosetta's song?
ME: I don't know Rosetta's song.
MADELEINE: How about the Rainbow Fish song?
ME: I don't know any Rainbow Fish song.
MADELEINE: It goes (breaking into singsong) "Rainbow Fish goes for a walk, and a crocodile and a shark going to eat her..."
ME: A crocodile and a shark are going to EAT her?!? Uh-oh!
MADELEINE: Yeah. (back to singsong) "And she stepped on a rock, and Ariel comes to save herrrrrr...."

Phew. I'm glad Ariel saved her. I was getting worried for poor Rainbow Fish, out on her walk.


Snuggling Madeleine before putting her in her crib:
ME: Madeleine, did you know you used to live inside my tummy? Back when you were so little?
MADELEINE: Yeah, I was so little, and the doctors had to CUT your tummy open to get me out. And...and...and they CUT your tummy and they BROKED it! And there were pieces of your tummy all over the place, and they BROKED, and they dropped some pieces of your tummy on my HEAD!

Hmmm. Okay. Apparently she is envisioning the gory details that would entail a C-section, because I certainly never said anything about broken pieces of tummy dropping on her head.

ME: Yes, the doctors had to cut my tummy to get you out, and when you came out I said, "There's my baby!"
MADELEINE: Yeah, and I was SOOOO happy to get out, because I was so happy to come out and WATCH a SHOW! But, not yet, because the show is just over and I TURNED it off.
ME: Well, you were too little to watch a show. I think what you were most excited to do when you came out was to drink milk.
MADELEINE: Yeah, and I was so excited to eat animal crackers that go with my milk.
ME: Well, babies that little can only drink milk, they can't eat anything yet, because they don't have any teeth. And you had to drink a special kind of milk called breastmilk, because you were too little to have the kind of milk that's in our fridge. You couldn't have that kind of milk until you turned one.
MADELEINE: Yeah, and I turned TWO. And...and...and Mommy just turned thirty-GRAPE.
ME: I turned thirty-grape, huh?
MADELEINE: Yeah, and I turned TWO, and then... you can have real milk!

As usual, she is completely confident in her understanding of how the world works.

Massachusetts Muddy Muddy Mudster

Julia is not the only child making up her own songs lately. Madeleine has been repeatedly singing a song whose lyrics can best be interpreted as "Massachusetts Muddy Muddy Mudster." Or maybe it's "Massachusetts Money Money Monster." Her diction could use a little more clarity. It seems to be the song her beloved fairy figurine, named Sparkle, likes to sing as she hops and flies about. I got some of the song on video, before it morphed into a pretend play game that was part Little Mermaid and part Shrek, as a scantily clad Prince Eric desperately searched for Ogre Princess Fiona. You will also get to see a cameo by famous Goldens singer Julia, performing in what is either some sort of baby talk or a foreign language:




Another activity in which Madeleine got a chance to join her sister was in playing "Memory." Desperate to be a part of the game that Julia was starting with Ethan, Madeleine began trying to help set up the square cards, much to Julia's dismay. "Madeleeeeeeine! Don't TOUCH them!" Julia wailed, as Madeleine excitedly exclaimed to them, "Yeah! We're going to play with the CARDBOARDS!" After being gently told by Ethan that she needed to wait because he was still setting them up, she stood watching him in wonderment. Finally, completely unable to contain her eagerness, she burst out proclaiming, "Look, we're making this AMAZING circle that we got to PULL OPEN!"

If, by an amazing circle that we got to pull open, she meant rows of cards forming a square that we get to turn over one at a time, then I totally get what she was saying.

Turns out Madeleine thought the object of the game was to turn over the same two cards every time it was her turn, so, unfortunately, she was the only player who was unable to make a match during the game. It doesn't matter all that much, however, since she wandered off and abandoned the game in the middle of playing, leaving Ethan and Julia to enjoy their match a bit more fully.

Goldens Perform Again

The Goldens put on another concert yesterday afternoon, debuting some of their newest compositions. This time, it was Madeleine who was desperate to steal the attention away from her sister as I videotaped the big performance:







When she's not performing her latest hit songs, Julia is busy poring over her new-to-her American Girl purses book. Handed down to us by one of my piano students, the book portrays various dolls on each page, along with paper purses and instructions on how to assemble them. Julia takes time every day to point out her three favorite dolls to me, obviously assuming I must be forgetting which ones are her favorites when I wake up the next morning, hence her need to re-inform me. She has also made it clear that she would like to add these three to her Christmas wish-list, so I guess she wants to be absolutely sure I don't goof up.

"Mom?" she asked me today. "Which American Girl doll is your favorite? You can have three, or two, or one."

After I picked out my two favorites, one of whom is also among Julia's three favorites, she once again pointed out her preferred dolls to me. She has even dubbed them with her three favorite names: Elina, Lizzy, and May.

"Mom, I like TALKING the American Girl dolls in this book. THAT'S what I'm going to do," she announced to me, sitting down on the couch to flip through the book and have each doll announce her name and talk about her purse.

"Hi, I'm Elina and I love this bag. My friend Lizzy does too. Hi, I'm Brizhanna, and I like this bag. Hi, I'm Lizzy, and I love this bag. My friend ZaTATA does too."

I have a feeling that when it's not Elina, Lizzy, or May, Julia is stuck coming up with the dolls' names on the spot. Either that, or I'm way out of the current name trends loop and didn't realize names like Brizhanna and ZaTATA are the up and coming baby names.

Or, perhaps they are names of girls who hear the bells in the Russian night.

Madeleine's Musings

Today, as I gave Madeleine her pre-nap snuggles, she suddenly felt the need to pontificate upon the 2nd degree burns I gave myself nearly 9 months ago, leading to my 2nd visit to the ER in a month's time. What on earth made her suddenly dredge up this memory is beyond me, but she sure did have a lot to say about it.

ME: (giving her a kiss) Madeleine, do you know I love you?
MADELEINE: Mommy, you just spilled your coffee in your lap, and you cried and cried and CRIED! Yeah, because it was just berry, berry hot and you got BURNED. And you had to go in the bath because you spilled your coffee. But, you just wiped it all up, so that's okay! You were just berry, berry happy. Yeah! That's okay, Mommy, because you just wiped it all up! And you had to go to the hostible because you just got BURNED, and you had to go in the bath because you just spilled your coffee in your LAP. But, that's okay!

At least she wasn't bringing up my pimples or my period.

After her nap, she decided to chatter about Julia's teeth:

JULIA: Hi, Madeleine!
MADELEINE: (sitting groggily on the potty) Yeah, because Julia's just MISSING teeth. She's missing TEETH.
ME: Yeah, she is missing some teeth.
MADELEINE: But... I just still got all of my teeth on.
ME: Yes, you haven't lost any teeth yet. Madeleine, do you know where Julia's teeth went?
MADELEINE: Because... it FALLED off.
ME: It fell out, right. Do you know why it fell out?
MADELEINE: Because... I need to FIX it.


Julia, showing off the teeth that fell off, that Madeleine is busy fixing.

Play-Date for Julia

Julia was hyperactively excited to have her friend Simi over after school today. While it's not the first time we've had Simi here for a play-date, it has been awhile, and Julia was more than ready to have someone other than Madeleine or me as her afternoon playmate. As a first-born child myself, I remember so well the childhood days of having friends over and feeling like my younger sister was a nuisance as she tried to horn her way into our games. Now, as a mother of two daughters, I have a completely different perspective on the whole ordeal. While I can easily sympathize with Julia in her desire to get to play with Simi without Madeleine tagging along, I also completely understand why Madeleine wants to be in on the excitement too. (Shannon, I am sorry for all those times I left you out, even though you would sometimes intentionally wreck my play time by acting really goofy or doing gross things like eating dog food at one of my birthday parties.) My main strategy today was to keep Madeleine distracted and with me when I could to allow Julia and Simi some alone time, but also to encourage Julia to let Madeleine join in when they were all playing in the same room together.

Madeleine was clearly in seventh heaven getting to be included in the big kids' play. As the three girls sat around the table eating lunch together, Madeleine took every opportunity to chime in during the various conversations Julia and Simi were having. Sometimes her additions were completely relevant to the subject at hand:

SIMI: Did you know that my brother likes peanut butter but not jelly?
JULIA: And I like jelly, but I don't like peanut butter! That's why I never bring peanut butter sandwiches to school.
SIMI: But this part of my peanut butter sandwich doesn't taste good because of the crust.
ME: It's okay, you don't need to eat the crust if you don't like it. Look, Julia didn't eat the crust on her grilled cheese, because she doesn't like crust either.
MADELEINE: (grabbing a hunk of her own sandwich crust) Don't worry, don't worry, Simi. I like to eat MY crust!

Other times, Madeleine seemed to blurt out any old thing just to be part of the conversation:

SIMI AND JULIA: (goofing around) China is on top of Boston, New York is on top of China, Chicago is on top of New York...
MADELEINE: (holding up a plastic Easter egg) AND I... OPENED MY EGG!!!

After lunch, I kept Madeleine distracted by having her help me clean up the blocks so that Simi and Julia could go upstairs and play alone for a little while. After the blocks, Madeleine put away the matchbox cars, and I got busy cleaning up her little fairy friends from yesterday's video. A few moments later, Madeleine suddenly seemed crestfallen, and I foolishly assumed it was over her fairies.

MADELEINE: (frantically) But Mommy, where are my FRIENDS?
ME: Your friends? What do you mean?
MADELEINE: Where did my FRIENDS go?
ME: You mean your fairy friends? I put them back in the Tinkerbell box, right there on the table.
MADELEINE: (on the verge of tears of desperation) No, Mommy, SIMI AND JULIAAAA!

Oh. Those friends. Um, well, they snuck upstairs to play without you. I mean, uh, "They went upstairs to get something. They'll be down soon!"

Luckily, they were, and after allowing Madeleine to come under their dining room table-turned-tent (or, as Madeleine put it, "We're playing under the GHOST!"), Madeleine moved on to some coloring and Simi and Julia were left to play in peace for a little while.


The dining room tent. Or, if you prefer, the ghost.


Later on in the afternoon, I walked the girls down to the playground near our house so we could enjoy the warm spring weather. Simi and Julia chose to hold hands and skip ahead of Madeleine in the stroller, which initially freaked Madeleine out ("HEY! GUYS! Don't forget MEEEEE!"), until I sped up my pace to stick right behind them. Thankfully, Julia the rule-obeyer was able to keep things safe as she and her friend trotted along in front of us. "Wait, Simi, the rule is, when we're walking somewhere with my mom, we DON'T cross the street ourselves. We WAIT and cross it WITH her," she informed Simi as we approached an intersection.

I am so glad that at least ONE of my children obeys the common rules of safety.

I think the skip/sprint to the playground, in addition to all the running around while there, tired the big kids out, because on our walk back home they lagged far behind the stroller, lollygagging their way along the sidewalk, so that I had to keep stopping to wait for them to catch up. At least their slow pace gave them a little more "alone" time, and they carried on a conversation as they walked, some of which I was able to overhear.

SIMI: I wish I had a Rapunzel doll like you.
JULIA: I wish that too.
SIMI: Maybe if I wish on the evening star when I go to bed tonight, I can wish for Rapunzel. Do you ever wish on the evening star?
JULIA: Well, is the evening star even REAL?
SIMI: Yes! I've wished on it before! I looked out my window and I saw the evening star so I said a wish!
JULIA: Well, my mom and dad like me to just close my eyes and go to sleep when they put me to bed, so they don't really want me, like, looking out my window at the stars.

We also don't want her coming into our bedroom a million times with lame excuses as to why she can't fall asleep, but she doesn't seem to abide by those desires.

Finally, shortly before it was time for Simi to go home, the girls had an in-depth conversation about freckles, with Julia pointing out that since she wasn't born with freckles, she doesn't have any. I jumped in and pointed out that they did know someone with freckles, as one of their mutual best friends at preschool is freckled.

SIMI: And do YOU have freckles?
ME: No, I don't have any.
SIMI: But... yeah you do. I can see them on your face.
JULIA: Simi, those are just MOLES and PIMPLES.

Good grief. Will there ever come a day when my pimples are not broadcast to the world by my children??

Madeleine Play

Madeleine's imagination is growing by the day. Animal crackers are no longer just for snack. As she sat happily munching away, the various crackers made friends with each other and chattered away, sometimes lamenting the fact that they were slowly being eaten up, while Madeleine sadistically laughed over eating off their body parts one by one. Sometimes the animals were long-lost friends: "Oh, THERE you are, Old Buddy! I FOUND you!", and sometimes they were new acquaintances. In certain cases, they broke out into song together, trotting around on the dining room table chanting "Twinkle Twink! Twinkle Twink!" In any case, every last animal was ultimately consumed, so it was a pretend-play game that simply couldn't last forever. Here, on video, you can watch the slow demise of one of Madeleine's crackers, who became friends with a sheep in her last few moments of cracker-being:



Madeleine also got pretty engaged in a Dora-the-Explorer inspired game of fairies, in which Tinkerbell and her friends faced all sorts of challenges, including getting stuck in the ploppy mud, getting attacked by wabes at the beach, and trying to learn to fly. Someone else wanted a piece of the limelight as I videotaped Madeleine's play:

And Yet More Potty Talk

In addition to her recent interest in the difference between male and female, as well as adult and child, anatomy, Madeleine made a new discovery this week about the woman's body. In her own words: "Mommy? Did you do RED pee-pees?"

I truly have no privacy when it comes to the bathroom. Or - let's be real - anything. I am generally used to the kids crowding around me regardless of what I'm doing, whether it be talking on the phone, going to the bathroom, eating my lunch, getting dressed, or what not. However, this morning took on a whole new level, as we all came downstairs upon waking and took our turns using the toilet. As Julia moved off the pot and onto brushing her teeth, I took my turn, then passed it on to Madeleine, who felt the need to start a whole conversation with her sister about the contents in the toilet bowl.

ME: Here, Madeleine, let me put you on the potty.
MADELEINE: (gazing into the bowl, still unflushed) Mommy? Is that your RED ONE under there?
JULIA: Madeleine, it's her BLOOD.
MADELEINE: Yeah, that's just her blood that's under the toilet.
JULIA: It's not UNDER the toilet, Madeleine. It's IN the toilet.
MADELEINE: Yeah, it's just Mommy's blood that's in the toilet under there.
JULIA: It's not UNDER, Madeleine.
MADELEINE: (peeing in the potty, then getting down to look inside the bowl, which had still not been flushed from me using it)
ME: Okay, Madeleine, here, wipe yourself.
MADELEINE: (in wonderment) Mommy! I did my OWN red one!

While she will someday do her own red one, I think two and a half is a bit on the young side.

Hope you all enjoyed reading about my period. I know my kids sure like talking about it. Maybe you will too.