30 April 2015

Kids can be so literal.

Tony to Madelyn: Get your shoes.
Madelyn: Why?
Tony, teasingly not telling her: Because we're going somewhere that needs shoes.
Madelyn, getting her shoes on: Where are we going?
Tony: Somewhere that needs shoes.

After a couple minutes she figured out that we were going for a walk.

Madelyn: Are we going for a walk?
Me: Yes, we're going for a walk.
Madelyn: Then why did Daddy say that we were going somewhere that needs shoes?
Me: You need shoes to go for a walk, right?
Madelyn: Yeah, but why did he say we were going somewhere?
Me: Walking around the block isn't going somewhere?

29 April 2015

Random things overheard while the girls are playing:

Madelyn to Alyson: Do you want to do some exercise like fishing?

28 April 2015

The five-year-old really doesn't have too good of a grasp of time yet. We were playing a strange made-up version of soccer outside after we got home today.

Madelyn: Okay, it's time for the game to take a break.
Me: You mean halftime?
Madelyn: Yeah.
Me: How long is it?
Madelyn: Thirty minutes.
Me: That's a long halftime.
Madelyn: Okay, it's ten seconds.
Me: Um, that's too short.

27 April 2015

Tony and I were talking at dinner about having to work with Madelyn's teacher to reschedule our parent-teacher conference. The conference was supposed to be tomorrow, but I have jury duty. Madelyn, suddenly became very concerned about it.

Madelyn: You did let my teacher know, right?!?!
Me: Yes, I emailed her.
Madelyn: Okay, good.

26 April 2015

Tonight for dinner, we had chicken with a glaze on it. We also had rice. Madelyn asked for some of the glaze on her rice saying, "I like glaze on lice."

25 April 2015

For game night today, we played a quick game of Carcassonne. In the game, your game pieces/people are called "meeples". Madelyn only had one meeple left which she chose not to place on her turn, declaring, "I don't want to run out of meatballs!"

24 April 2015

For the past few months as her G.G.'s (my grandma) health has declined, we have been discussing getting old and death with Madelyn to try to help prepare her for when the inevitable does happen. On Saturday, G.G. went into the hospital again, and we don't know what is going to happen this time. So, the subject has come up again to try to help Madelyn understand.

During dinner, Madelyn was asking us more questions about death and Heaven.

Madelyn: What do you do in Heaven?
Me: Well, since no one has really come back from Heaven to tell us, no one really knows, but you can probably do whatever you want. (She had already asked us why no one comes back from Heaven.)
Madelyn: You mean you don't have to listen to God?!

23 April 2015

At Take Your Child to Work Day today, one of the activities Madelyn did was to create a name and design a label for her own product/medicine. The product was actually just m&m's. When we got home she asked if she could have some of the m&m's. As she was opening the container:

Alyson: Me some too?
Me to Madelyn: Are you gong to share?
Madelyn: Whenever Aly wants some I'm going to have some, too.

Um, I don't think that's really how sharing works.

22 April 2015

Before bed, Madelyn was slowly putting lotion on the areas she has that are prone to eczema. 

Me: Come on and finishing rubbing it in.
Madelyn: I need to put more in my elbow creek!
Me: Um, you mean "elbow crease"?

21 April 2015

After we got home today and Madelyn was done trying to order the entire stock of t-shirts on Carter's/OshKosh's website, Madelyn and Alyson were trying to figure out what to play.

Madelyn: Can we go upstairs to my room to play by ourselves?
Me: Yeah, sure.
Madelyn, in disbelief: Really?!

20 April 2015

Pretty much the second I walked in the door at Mom's this afternoon, Madelyn asked, "Is it okay for [boy in her class] to come over on Wednesday? He said his mom said he could."

Later at dinner, the conversation was something like this:

Madelyn: Daddy, [boy in her class] is going to come over on Wednesday.
Tony: Oh really?
Madelyn: Yeah, he said he can come over.
Me: If he wants to come over, his mom needs to call or email me and we can figure something out.
Madelyn: Okay, I'll be sure to tell him tomorrow!

Sigh.

19 April 2015

Madelyn this morning discussing her "favorite" drink from Starbucks:

"Hot chocolate and vanilla milk are both my favorites, but vanilla milk is my favorite favorite. The more favorites, the better it is."

18 April 2015

During dinner, Madelyn was telling her daddy about playing at the park today after our run. She met a 3-year-old named Peyton and was playing with her.

"I met a girl at the park today and her name was.... [looking quizzically at me] Peanut?"

17 April 2015

While at the Nature Center for their field trip today, Madelyn and her classmates were learning about amphibians and reptiles. When they started talking about reptiles:

Nature Center Employee: What animals are reptiles?
Madelyn before any other kids: A crocodile!
NCE: Yup! [She went through all of the answers from the other kids.] Now, we're going to meet a reptile.
Madelyn: A crocodile!
NCE: You think I'm braver than I am!

16 April 2015

As part of learning about the letter V this week, Madelyn's class is learning about Van Gogh. She was telling us that today she painted her own "The Starry Night". I went back to the back room to get a triple painting/print we have of Van Gogh works, which includes "The Starry Night". She asked us what the other paintings were, so I looked them up. They were "Cafe Terrace at Night" and "Starry Night Over the Rhone".

Me: The Rhone is a river.
Madelyn: I knew that.
Me: How'd you know that?
Madelyn: Because my brain thought of it.

15 April 2015

Simple things excite five-year-olds:

"Mommy! Today for sharing, [girl in her class] brought her Cinderella toothbrush! It was purple just like my toothbrush! Can you believe it?!"

14 April 2015

Our pre-bed conversation:

Madelyn: Mommy, lay down on my bed. I want to tell you about my day.
Me: Okay.
Madelyn, once I laid down: We made volcanos today! I made mine yellow. And once I put the food coloring and vinegar into the powder it went [wildly waving her hands up into the air] ppooooossshhhhh and made a big mess!
Me: Cool! Did the mess get everywhere? 
Madelyn: No. Just a little on the table, but there was plastic on the table.

13 April 2015

After we got home today, Madelyn was working on her Alphabet Journal. She was working on the letter "V" so she wanted to draw a vacuum.

Madelyn: How do you draw a vacuum?
Me: Why don't you look through the paper and see if you can find a picture of a vacuum to cut out and glue in or draw?
Madelyn: I don't want to look at the paper!
Me: Well, I don't know how to tell you how to draw a vacuum.
Madelyn: Then I'll just get the vacuum out and copy it.

So, she went to the closet and stubbornly pulled out the big Dyson to use as her vacuum model.

12 April 2015

Madelyn was playing with some hotel key cards today and giving them to us as "tickets" to parties at the hotels.

Madelyn: You're allowed to stay for six days.
Tony: That's a long party. Are you subsidizing the rooms?
Madelyn: Yeah.
Tony: So you're paying for it?
Madelyn: Yeah. Actually, you're allowed to stay for five days. No, four days. Actually, Mommy, you take Daddy to the Omni and you get to stay for one day.

11 April 2015

While eating some baby spinach with dinner tonight, Madelyn held up a piece that she had just taken a bite out of to show us:

"This spinach was eaten by a caterpillar named Madelyn. The caterpillar has four legs, I mean two legs and two arms."

10 April 2015

Madelyn's job today was to clean the playroom. She said she would do it when we got back from San Diego, so that was today. All day she was trying to get out of it or do the least amount possible.

Madelyn: Can I clean half of the playroom?
Me: Sure. You can clean half and then clean the other half.
Madelyn, looking at us like she didn't understand how she saw through her negotiating attempts: That's what I meant....

09 April 2015

First

Madelyn trying to sing "Uma Thurman" by Fall Out Boy:

"I can do nanu. I can look a marigold. Keep you like an oat. Nothing but death do a part."

(Actual lyrics: "I can move mountains. I can work a miracle. Work a miracle. I'll keep you like an oath. May nothing but death do us part.")

Second

Talking about needing a drink of water: "My body thinks it's drinking time!"

08 April 2015

While laying on a lounge chair at the hotel pool Madelyn sighed, "Ah, this is the life."

07 April 2015

Everywhere we go, Madelyn makes friends. We were at a playground and the girl instantly started playing with two boys there. They were crawling around pretending to be kitties.

06 April 2015

First

Looking out the airplane window as we took off at BWI: "It looks like Minecraft down there!"

Second

After dropping Tony off where he was working, the girls and I were driving back to the hotel. Madelyn dreamily exclaimed: "I didn't realize California is so beautiful!"

05 April 2015

During dinner, we were telling Grandma and Grandpa about our carry-ons for the flight and how the girls tried on their backpacks yesterday. Alyson has a little bit of trouble wearing her backpack because it's too long for her body. Tony told her yesterday that she has "no upper body".

Alyson: Me body!
Madelyn: No, Aly, you don't have an upper body. I have an upper body!

04 April 2015

While we were packing up some stuff for San Diego:

Madelyn: We're taking the cooler, right?
Me: Um, no. We're not taking a cooler on the plane.
Madelyn, in disbelief: Well, why not? 
Me: Because we can only take our suitcases, and we don't need to take a cooler.
Madelyn: Oh....

03 April 2015

This afternoon, Madelyn was playing the Veggie Tales memory game by herself:

"I got Larry! I got tons of matches! How many characters are there in the vegetable movie?"

02 April 2015

During dinner tonight, Madelyn loudly whispered a request across the table to me "so that her daddy couldn't hear". It was really cute.

Madelyn: Mommy, after dinner, can we go talk in the living room alone?
Me: Yeah, sure.

When we were done eating:

Madelyn, coming up to me and eying her daddy suspiciously: Mommy, can we go talk now?

(If anyone was wondering, Tony's birthday is Saturday.)

01 April 2015

While out on our walk after dinner tonight, Tony was explaining airport security to Madelyn.

Tony: They'll take whatever backpack you take and put it through an x-ray machine like in Knuffle Bunny.
Madelyn: Can I take my ladybug?
Tony: Yeah, your ladybug backpack.
Madelyn: And I want to take my toothbrush.