Madge Monday

My youngest child sympathies surfaced again this morning. Man, it’s hard not to have that happen. Here’s the deal. Julie and the kids got party treats yesterday for Coco’s party this coming Saturday. The treats weren’t put away, yet, largely because with Christmas and Coco’s Birthday and Winter Clothes why have quickly run out of room in our apartment.
So this morning Madge goes snooping in the bags and plays with a Slinky. I tell her to put it away because it’s not for us, it’s for the party, blah blah – in other words, I sounded just like the parent I don’t want to be. She put the Slinky away. But of course Coco grabs one at that moment and she lays into him about it – and, to fill you in on the whole situation, she’s developed a nasty tone of voice recently, which, mixed with Coco’s morning whining is just music to anyone’s ears. The soundtrack to “The Exorcist” is a lullaby compared to it.
And, little brother that I am, I can’t help being mad at her about it. (I’m getting all riled up about it again, just writing about it. Because I know it’s wrong to blame her, but come on.)

On the plus side of the Madge and Daddy ledger: she really missed me while I was working yesterday – the German word for me is Sabbatschaender (Sabbath-defiler) – or at least she put on a good show about it when I came home. Not that this didn’t lead to sibling and pet jealousies, but still.

Finally, I am pleased to report that a devious parenting ploy of mine worked. I know that any recommendation from Daddy is met with distrust. But this was a large-scale subterfuge, and made it below her radar. I rented Oliver, the movie musical, through Netflix, and we watched it. The kids like some of the songs and now the plot is familiar to Madge (I don’t think Coco could follow it all, to him it’s “The kid finds a family” movie). Then I made a CD with their favorite songs from the musical by downloading them from iTunes. Finally, I went to the library and got the book (the unabridged version), “for myself.” Julie, of course, nosed around in it to see if it ends in the same way – love that Julie. And Madge, true to my plan, picked the book up, too, and started reading it. And when Julie asked her what’s happening right now (Madge is somewhere around page 50) she summarized it pretty well. Go, Madge!
Only problem for me is that I probably won’t be able to read it anytime soon. Still, I think he finds a family at the end – and I figured that out without skipping ahead, Julie.