First Day!

Woo-hoo!  Back to school for all 3 female Rowes today, with only one day to adjust back to East Coast time.  (I think it's safe to say that we just haven't adjusted yet.)  So as we dealt with first-day excitement and jet lag all at once over the breakfast table, Julia and Madeleine wound up bickering.

MADELEINE: Julia, I think this year I'm gonna try to read the Rick Riordan books you were reading!
JULIA: (scathingly) Madeleine, you DON'T read those books in second grade.  They'd be too hard for you.
MADELEINE: Come on, Julia, I read Harry Potter, AND I can read some really hard words!
JULIA: No.  Madeleine.  There's things you wouldn't UNDERSTAND.
MADELEINE: Like what?
JULIA: Madeleine.  Rick Riordan books are for a HIGHER LEVEL.
ME: Okay, Julia, just let it be.  If she wants to say she'll read those books, just don't worry about it.

Madeleine, to whom I have attempted to explain Julia's recent pubescent moodiness, then got up from the dining room table and came to me in the kitchen.  I thought she was going to give me a hug, but instead she had something to commiserate with me on.  She leaned towards me, rolling her eyes about Julia.

MADELEINE: (in a stage whisper) Hormones.


Ohhh boy.  I mean, she's right, but...maybe I got a little too scientific in my discussion of irrational moodiness with her.


The little spat was luckily short-lived, and we were out the door for the first day of school!:

On our walk, we passed a lawn sign at a house near the school, advertising for the local Cub Scouts group:

JULIA: Wait.  It's called "BEE Scouts?  I thought it was CUB scouts."

Way to put that fifth grade brain to work, Jules.

I think the first day was a success, since both kids greeted me joyfully after school, and Julia even ditched Madeleine and I to go over to a friend's house, so I guess the girls were ready to return to reality!  Now if only their mommy can feel the same way...