Madeline's artwork and story telling ability

Sure, I'll admit it, I love to brag on my kids. Madeline drew this picture on her doodlepro the other day and I thought it was rather spectacular for a 4 year old. This is a family of bears - I love the detailed clothing.



One of my favorite past times these days is having Madeline read stories to me. I especially love the stories that she tells from 'memory' or by describing the pictures she sees. First I'll share her rendition of

Noah's Ark

And the lamb and bunnies and lamb and cows and puppies, they were with the flood and the bird. The floods baby flood. Noah said “Now I’m going to ride on my donkey” chuckling to himself in his breast. So they builded. The lion the tiger the pigs, the zebras, the giraffes, the elephant, the cat, the butterflies went along too. So did the mouse and the bear. So did the turtles too. They were all safe in the ark. He go'd and go'd into the ark. They were all in the rain and the flood. They were all cozy in the ark. And the rain was pretty much interrupting, like other people. And the whales liked the sun. The sun was showing on them. The clouds came out and they never never never had a flood again come. But they did once. And all the alligators, turtles, pigs, bears, lion, tiger and ostrich and donkey and bunnies and cows and alligators, bears, elephant, giraffes, zebras, pigs and a lamb and a elephant all got out. And God said “this is a sign what made me think I’m so special”. The end.

One of her favorite stories is "Duck in the Truck" (thank you Chris, Brian, Connor and Ashlin for sending this one to us!). I asked Madeline to read the story to me while I typed. (one important fact to note: when Madeline was potty training, this book was a favorite. She would have me read it to her while she pooped on the potty. The story says "stuck in the muck" multiple times. So we modified it and I would read "stuck in the muck that looked like poop". That, my friends, is why she refers to poop a couple of times in this story :)

The Duck was running away from the bush, but he did not like the road and muddy. He hit a rock into a big mud puddle that looked like poop but it wasn’t. He bumped. He whipped his car into the mud and his vegetables all came out in the mud that looked like poop. The duck jumped down in the mud with his feet. He stepped down and looked for his vegetables and said “Hmmmmm”. They pushed the car out of the mud. "QUACK QUACK QUACK" he shouted, waiting and chuckling to himself. “Ah Hah Hah I scared you!” ... “you did my friend” said the sheep. The sheep got out and waited and waited till they found a plan “I got it! We’re strong” said the frog “and we can do anything!”. “You’re right” said the Duck. "QUACK I scared you again! Hahaha” the frog laughed and chuckled to himself and they pushed and pushed. They saw a vegetable on the car. It was muddy, they couldn’t even push. “Hey” said the goat “I’ve seen you before”. There was a string they tied around, and they pushed and he pulled. “Is it working?” said the duck. "Waaaaaa!" Said the goat. “I’m falling into the water and I need help, you need to help me!” He fell into the mud and he splashed in it. “Oh dear, why is he getting out in the mud without saying sorry”. "Oh we got muddy, we need to take a bath”. "Hey you come back here!" they shouted. "I have muddy wheels and I’m running away from you, sorry!” said the duck.
And that's the end.