Madison and Daddy mixed the material and poured it into the molds very carefully, and afterwards went off to Nana and Ye-Ye's house. Madison was anxious to play her Disney Princess Magical Gem Fishing game, so we brought it along and set it up on their table. While doing a bit of catching up, there was some serious gem fishing going on. I think we played that game about seven or eight times while talking - Madison's high score was thirteen gems. It was good to sit down and do some catching up though - yesterday was actually Nana's birthday. Madison left a video birthday greeting for Nana, singing "Happy Birthday," but it was nice to be there with them in person. Next week, we'll all go out to dinner and celebrate, probably at Red Lobster. They'll probably serve up trilobites and crinoids there!
We got home afterwards, and did some Disney Universe again. That was Madison's choice. She's excited about Disney Infinity next week - hopefully that one will keep her attention for a while. It looks like a big game, so we'll see.
Meanwhile, the fossils are drying. We'll post pictures of the completed projects. While one might be tempted to paint the fossils in the traditional fashion, with shades of brown, black and grey, Madison is insisting on painting her ammonite shell with rainbow colors.
And who are we to argue? Who among us has actually seen a live ammonite? It is entirely possible that they were all rainbow-colored, and maybe even with some sparkles thrown in for good measure. That's probably why they were made extinct: all the other jealous colorless cephalopods.
Today at school, Madison's homework was to talk about her name, and how she got it. She has probably a more interesting story than many, considering that she actually was named twice. First, of course, there is her Chinese name. That would be the one given to her by her orphanage. That name is possibly the second one she was given, taking into account that she made her way to the orphanage when she was a year old. Her name there was Long Mei Yang. Madison shared this with her classmates, and told them what "Mei Yang" means: Beautiful Sun. We kept the "Mei" as her middle name, simply because we liked the meaning and the sound of it - the name goes well with her first name. The name "Long" means either "grand" or "dragon." That's the last name everyone at the orphanage had: a bunch of dragons there. Of course, dragon isn't necessarily a bad thing over there in China. But still, we decided to keep the "Mei" part only, and stick with the name "Madison" for a first name. Madison did not share the meaning of her name with the class: "Child of a Warrior." It's been well-chronicled here about Mommy's battle with cancer, and her eventual victory. Madison is really a child of a warrior, as her name suggests. Mommy and Daddy both liked the sound of the name too - it just sort of rang in our spirits. The name became popular in the 80's, from what I understand, because of the movie "Splash." Here, we return to our mermaid theme once more - the mermaid in that movie was named "Madison." That name, in the movie, came after a street sign: Madison Avenue.
It's amazing how a script writer can influence so many people. One guy sitting there, pecking away at a typewriter, trying to come up with a clever name for his mermaid in the script. After a moment of inspiration, he discovers his name, and it winds up in the movie. Little does he realize, soon thousands of children will be named Madison, all because he liked the idea of naming his mermaid after a street.
Not that we named our girl after the mermaid, or the street. We always liked the name, and the "child of a warrior" part really spoke to us at the time. Madison Mei. Beautiful child of a warrior!
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