Face Paint Fun

Today was an early release day in the public schools, so not only did I have the day off from teaching piano lessons, but I got to spend the whole afternoon from lunch-time on with the girls.  Early release day turned into body art day at our house, as the kids first gave each other mani/pedis using Julia's nail spa kit, then delved into face paint.

Julia is supposedly painted up as a vampire:

While Madeleine opted to get painted as her favorite animal, a bane:

Complete with carrot finger!


We had to run errands later in the day, and Julia has reached the age at which she was embarrassed at the thought of being seen around town in face paint.  She made sure to have her face washed clean before we headed out, but Madeleine went to various shops in full-out bane mode.  Not only did she have her bane face paint on, but she exclusively hopped from here to there, often needing to grab my arm at the last minute to keep her balance, making me almost lose my own balance.  She got so much attention at the first shop we went to that she made absolutely sure to be noticed at the next store.  Hopping directly up to the cashier, Madeleine announced in a squeaky, cheerful voice: "HELLOOO!!" 

I can already imagine the resistance we're going to get at bedtime when we insist she wash her paint off.  I'm pretty sure Madeleine is already envisioning herself at school tomorrow with her face paint on.  Especially seeing as it's Easter week and all, and she would make a pretty cute Easter bane.



I guess I'd better cook up some carrots and lettuce for dinner tonight!

Overheard...

This is what I just oversaw and overheard between the girls as Julia went to the kitchen to fetch some dessert:

MADELEINE: (standing at the doorway between the kitchen and dining room, arms blocking the passage, legs straddled) Cross under the troll bridge, Julia!  That means go between my legs.
JULIA: (army crawling underneath Madeleine's legs) You want me to crawl with my handful of jellybeans?
MADELEINE: (observing her sister) Cute butt, Julia.
JULIA: Well, that's nice.
MADELEINE: Wait, why is that not nice?
ME: She said "that's nice," Madeleine, not "that's not nice."
MADELEINE: I *know*, but she's being SARCASTIC!
ME: No, I don't think she is.
JULIA: (piping up loudly) Actually, I *was* kind of being sarcastic!  Because...it's not really a compliment you TELL another person, Madeleine.  You don't compliment someone on their BUTT.


(At least not yet, right??)

A few moments later, Madeleine began gyrating around while holding one hand on the table, causing the table to shake while Julia was trying to write down answers to her homework.

MADELEINE: (chanting to herself) Jiggle jiggle jiiiiggle, jiggle jiggle jiiiiiggle...
ME: Madeleine, honey, you're shaking the table while Julia's trying to do her homework.
MADELEINE: I was just tryin' to make it look like there's no BONES in my bum.  This is how you have to do it.  With your BUTT. 


Wait.  Is my 5-year-old attempting to TWERK?!?
Oh Good Lord. 
As if checking out her sister's butt wasn't bad enough.

Decorative Drawings Around the House

Madeleine has been hanging up her drawings ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

I was particularly interested in the back story for this picture, which is classic Madeleine from her all-black phase:

ME: Can you tell me about this picture?
MADELEINE: It's two black worm sisters, and they're having a BLACK party, so every little girl can be surprised by all the blackness.  And they wanted to...they always loved to explore, so they went outside to explore the world.  And then when they got outside, they were surprised.  Everything was YELLOW!  And they decided to have a BLACK party so everyone can be surprised...and...and they didn't like ANY COLOR epsept black.


Wow.  That's some pretty interesting detail.  I hope someday I can attend a black party and be surprised by all the blackness.

Madeleine Statements

Various statements made by Madeleine that prove she is full of it.

On her love of foreign language:
ME: (browsing, online, through the menu of a restaurant) Hey Ethan, they have build-your-own crepes here.
ETHAN: Mmm.
MADELEINE: Crepes?  What are CREPES?
ME: They're a kind of French dessert.
MADELEINE: Oooh!  French!  I *love* French!  I love talking with you in French!

Except that she knows ZERO French.  Or, as she might say, she knows NONE French.


On her love of drawing:
ME: Oh, Madeleine, I like your picture.  Is it Angelina Ballerina?
MADELEINE: (offended) NO!  It's NOT Angelina.
ME: Oh.  Can you tell me about your picture?
MADELEINE: This is a random mouse girl, and that's the sun, and that's the grass, and that's the sky.  Mama, I love drawing.  Especially when I get the idea of drawing from someone drawing.  Or from Polly drawing.  And I feel like drawing.  A picture.  Of a mouse.

Madeleine's picture of a random mouse girl.




On why she doesn't ever want to eat at any restaurant besides Blue:
MADELEINE: Because.  Mama.  There are FEW things that I like.
ME: What kinds of things do you like that you think other restaurants won't have?
MADELEINE: Like...PEPPERS, and...I like chicken.
ME: But all you ever order from Blue is plain pasta.
MADELEINE: (brightly) I know!  But they have ICE CREAM at Blue!

So that's why she can't eat anywhere else.  Not because she wants chicken and peppers, but because Blue is the only restaurant in the whole entire world that offers ice cream as a dessert option on its kids' meal.


Moving on to another topic, Madeleine drew a picture inspired by a song she sings at school.  Take a look at the picture: can you figure out what the song is??:

Just in case you can't figure it out and need a little prompt, here Madeleine not only acts out but then sings the song on video (complete with a very lady-like crotch-scratch right at the beginning of the recording)

My Kids are...Um...Imaginative

Proof that my kids are living in worlds of their own.


#1: In which Julia causes Ethan to comment, "Oh, so she's crazy."

JULIA: (singing a dramatic rendition of "Indian Song" in her room) Iiiiiii knoooooow what the Indians know.  Iiiiii goooooo where the Indians go....
AUNTIE SHANNON: (walking by Julia's room) What on earth got that song in your head?
JULIA: Lilly was singing it.
AUNTIE SHANNON: Lilly knows that song?
JULIA: Lilly from the Mintz!

Yes, that's right.  Julia was neither referring to her own friend Lily, nor to Madeleine's friend Lilly.  The imaginary Lilly who lives in Julia's brain was the one singing the song that Julia then got stuck in her head.


#2 In which Madeleine cannot differentiate between a hotel and an apartment, as we visit (the real) Lilly.

ME: Madeleine, we're going to drop by the hotel Lilly is staying at to bring them a dinner I cooked.
MADELEINE: Why do we have to bring them a dinner?
ME: Well, because the stove in their hotel suite is pretty small, so it has been hard for them to cook dinners there.
MADELEINE: Mama?  Auntie Caitlyn lives in a hotel, but she has a big stove.
ME: Well, Auntie Caitlyn lives in an APARTMENT.  An apartment building might look like a hotel building, but the difference is that an apartment is a place where someone lives, and where they cook their meals every day.  A hotel is a place where someone stays for a short while, like if they're on vacation, or if they're having repairs done on their house, like Lilly is.  So there's usually just a small little stove in hotel kitchenettes.
MADELEINE: Well, Auntie Caitlyn's hotel room is pretty small.
ME: Auntie Caitlyn's apartment is small, but she still has a big enough stove to cook things on.

After the visit...

MADELEINE: Mama, I can't wait to have ANOTHER play-date with Lilly so we can stay longer and play at her APARTMENT!

At that point, I gave up.


#3: In which Madeleine proves that I truly, absolutely cannot ever know what's going on in her head.

MADELEINE: Mama.  Watch THIS. (holding two fingers in the shape of a sideways "V" and connecting them to two "V" shaped fingers on the other hand)
ME: Cool.
MADELEINE: Mama.  Why did you say "cool?"
ME: Because you made a shape.
MADELEINE: I didn't make a shape.  I made a MAKKIN!


Seriously.  How could I *not* know that two sets of fingers in a "V" do not make a shape, but instead make a "makkin," or "napkin" as the rest of us in the world like to call it.  I guess I was fooled by the fact that the interior of the makkin was AIR, which would not actually perform the service that a makkin is intended to perform.  Silly me.  If the imaginary Lilly Mintz can get a song stuck in Julia's head, then OF COURSE Madeleine can put her fingers together and make a makkin out of air.

Madeleine Writes

Madeleine practiced more sounding-out of words today as she attempted to write answers to questions I asked her. 

Question 1: What is your favorite color?
Answer: PAG

Madeleine got angry when I asked her, in amusement, "Your favorite color is pag?"  I then spoke the word "pink" and enunciated the final "nk."  Did my little perfectionist want to try and write it again?  Nope.  Hot Cross Angry Exes through the letters.  FAIL.  No second chances.


Question 2: What is your favorite animal?
Answer: BANE

This time I wizened up.  "Your favorite animal is a bunny?  Awww!" 

A white bane with pag eyes


Question 3: What would you like to name your child if you ever have a daughter?
Answer: MOMMY

TOTAL cop-out, Madeleine.  She just picked a word she knows how to spell because she can't HANDLE about being incorrect.  But whatever.  I look forward to being a grandmother to Mommy someday.


Question 4: What is your favorite tv show?
Answer: MI LETHEL PON

Ethan and I are quite fond of Mi Lethel Pon too, as far as kids' shows go.  Ethan wears his Mi Lethel Pon t-shirts with pride and carries around his Mi Lethel Pon wallet without the slightest embarrassment.  Good choice, Madeleine!


And finally, Question 5: Which is your favorite pony?
Answer: PEG PIY

Aha!  Madeleine solved the dilemma over how to spell "pink."  It's not PAG, it's PEG!  And I should have guessed that Peg Piy is her favorite pony, seeing as her favorite color is pag.

Peg Piy, from Mi Lethel Pon.

Dessert for Madeleine

Madeleine took her sweet old time finishing her dinner this evening, and when she was finally approved for dessert, you'd have thought she would immediately start chowing down on her Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

Instead, she sat on the futon in the playroom, with a fistful of Mini-Eggs in each hand. 

ME: Mmm.  Those look yummy.  Are they good?
MADELEINE: Mmm-hmm.  But...I'm not EATING them yet.  Because...I'm still eating my broccoli.
ME: (confused) You are?!?
MADELEINE: Yeah.  It's STUCK!

Apparently the broccoli stuck in her teeth was preventing her from delving into the Mini-Eggs.  It seems Madeleine is a food purist.  The taste and touch of broccoli strands would simply ruin the chocolately deliciousness of the Mini-Eggs should they dare to mix in the slightest.

Once the broccoli was acceptably cleared from her teeth and swallowed down, Madeleine gobbled up her Mini-Eggs.  A few moments later, as I was in the bathroom styling my hair, Madeleine came traipsing to use the sink.

MADELEINE: I just need to wash my hands.  Because...my sweat...my sweat turned all COLORED from the eggs!


Who would have ever thought the simple event of eating some Easter candy for dinner would turn into such a complicated ordeal??