ten minutes to myself

Quotable Madeline: Art Criticism Edition

Madeline points to a thumbnail-sized image of Dali's Persistence of Memory in one of her reference books and says, "Mom, this is my favourite kind of art - droopy pictures of everyday things!"

Quotable Madeline: Not in Kansas Any More

I can't remember exactly why we were talking about this, but if you happened to be a passenger in our van this weekend, you might have overhead this:

"Madeline, how do you know that Fancy Nancy doesn't live in Vietnam?"

My six year-old's reply, "Because the street she lives on does not have all of this garbage on the road!!!"

Well, yes. That would be a clue.  Not the one that I might have used, but looking out the window at the roadside, I have to admit that she is correct nonetheless.

 

home away from home

Today we were sitting around the table after brunch, Madeline with a notebook open and a pencil crayon in hand. She gestured at her purple-penned sketch, and confided to me, "When I am eight years old, I am going to go live on this planet."

Well, gosh. We haven't even let her have a sleep-over with friends yet, and now she's making plans to move out LOL! 

Quotable Madeline: the one hundredth day edition

 Today, the five kindergarten classes at Madeline's school celebrated their one hundredth day with song and cupcakes, sharing collections of one hundred things (Madeline took one hundred of the beads that I bought somewhere on Sampeng Lane), and very occasion-specific eyewear. My girl was really excited to go to school, and it must have made a big impression on her because when she came home, this is what I overheard:

"The Infinity-st Day of Kindergarten - that will be a really special celebration!"

I wonder how long it will be before she stops counting ...

righties and lefties

This afternoon, after school,  I was helping Madeline put a bracelet on her wrist. She gestured to her free right arm and asked, "Mama, do you write with this arm like I do?"

I shook my head, "Nope. I use the other one."

With an expression of shock and awe, Madeline exclaimed, "Wow! You use the HARD arm!"

Still chuckling to myself ...

Quotable Madeline: the existential edition

One of Madeline's goldfish is ailing. Frankly, he looks like he's been in a knife fight and sustained heavy wounds and an eye injury. The other night, Chris gently told Madeline that Curly the Fish was going to "go away" because he wasn't feeling very well anymore. 

Madeline asked, "Where is Curly going to go?"

"Well, up to the sky," responded her dad.

Madeline, our astute little girl, promptly questioned, "How? I don't think he can SWIM there!"

The Quotable Madeline, Big Sister Edition

Chris told me about an exchange with the kids that he was part of today. 

The girls were playing in Madeline's bedroom, and he was pretty certain that he overheard Madeline referring to Sadie as her "Little Brother". Chris poked his head in to remind Madeline that Sadie was, in fact, her little sister. Madeline promptly explained that she knew that, and she was actually calling Sadie her "Little Bother" because "she is always taking the things that I am playing with before I am done with them!" 

Quotable Madeline: the Prune Edition

This evening, me and the kiddos were having dinner in the kitchen. Madeline and I were munching on homemade pizza, and I had Sadie in her bumbo seat on the counter, where I was passing her cereal-loaded spoons, which she is actually pretty good at getting into her mouth. Madeline came over and helped Sadie with a spoonful and asked, "Mama, what is Sadie eating?"

"Oatmeal with stewed prunes," I replied.

"No fair!" my little helper pouted. "Why does Sadie get DESSERT first????" 

Hmm. Maybe that was funnier in real-time ... 

Quotable Madeline, Christmas Edition

"Well, all you're getting from me is a piece of paper. With NO colourin' on it!!!"

- said indignantly to Chris, when he suggested that her behaviour on Christmas Eve was more "Naughty List" material than "Nice List" material.

Gotta love her.

omnivore's dilemma

Mid-game, Madeline brings her Candyland card a little closer to her face and scrutinizes the little rectangle of cardboard. "This card has chew marks!" she exclaims.

I reply that there's only one person in our family who tries to eat cardboard. She nods, and then to my dismay adds, "and fingernails and toenails and my hair!"

Oh yum.

Quotable Madeline: On Gardening

Last night, Madeline was using a brand-new bar of homemade soap to wash the layers of school yard sand off of her. "Look Mama! It has nuts in it!" she exclaimed, showing me the bar of soap.

"Actually, those are poppy seeds," I gently corrected, indicating the little black specks that were interspersed with oatmeal flakes in the bar.

Madeline's excited response: "Seeds? Then we can plant them and grow more soap!"

quotable madeline, take two

Madeline spies a plastic filler egg beside her easter tote this morning. "Where did this come from, Mama?" she asked.

"I have no idea!"

"Maybe it came from Michaels!"

Umm ...

Quotable Madeline

Madeline has appointed herself the official phone-answerer for our household. It started on Wednesday - the phone would ring, and she'd race me to it. Of course, I'd have to slow down so as not to knock her little three-foot self over, so she'd get ahead of me and grab the receiver first. I'd stand off to the side, and whisper, "say hello!", hoping for the best.

Without missing a beat, Madeline does say, "Hello!". Sometimes it's "Hello! How's it going?", even. Anyone eavesdropping might hear her chatter about something that she's been occupied with, or else be treated to a stream of high-speed babbling, depending on the conversation. After a minute or two, I usually can make out, "okay, talk to mom!". She'll pass the phone to me and say, "it's for you!".

Also, Madeline finally started to say her own name about two weeks ago. Previously, if someone asked her what her name was, she'd chirp "I'm me!" or else just bury her head in my shoulder. For awhile I thought that it was our fault for giving her a three syllable name, but then I realized that many of Madeline's same-age or younger playmates were calling her by name. I concluded that Madeline was just unmotivated. Then, a few days before Christmas, one of Madeline's grandfather's friends asked her what her name was, and she replied, "I'm Ma-da-wen!" clear as a bell! Sadly, I was out of the room for this triumphant moment, but Chris's excitement over this development was contagious!

In other news, I wasn't online much this week and don't have much to offer in terms of nifty articles/do-dads/links, but I was delighted to see that the best-est nursing pillow ever (designed in Calgary, even) was featured on Cool Mom Picks two days ago! I ended up buying a Baby Buddy pillow after testing one out at the lactation consultant's office when Madeline was a few weeks old. It really made a huge difference in how comfortable I was breastfeeding!