Bed Gallop Time

7:30 pm

JULIA: Good night, everyone.
ME: Good night, sweetheart.
JULIA: (heading into her bedroom and closing the door)


7:40 pm

JULIA: (emerging from her bedroom) Mommy?  Can I gallop for a little bit, because I have too much ENERGY.
ME: Uh...okay.  Go ahead.
JULIA: (touching her palm to the fireplace wall to signal the start of her gallop, then taking off through the living room and hallway)



OMG.  Only Julia.

My Genes

The kids seem to have inherited some of my less enviable traits.


1.) Being afraid to do anything I'm not 100% sure how to do or that is out of my comfort zone

Me in this situation:

ME: Ethan, will you look at these weeds in the front garden?  Do you think they're invading the grass?  Do we need to plant more grass seed?
ETHAN: Take a picture of the weeds and bring them to the garden store.  They'll probably know what you should do.
ME: (silently panicking because I don't know what to say when I get to the garden store and I'm afraid to even initiate a conversation at the counter) Um, but you think there's nothing to worry about, so we don't need to do anything??


Julia in this situation:

ME: (coming out of the girls' school, having had Julia's conference, just as the girls are arriving) Julia, can you do me a favor?  I forgot to sign myself out on the visitors' log on the front desk.  Can you just write the time next to my name for me?
JULIA: (looking utterly panicked) Is it gonna be SCARY?
ME: Okay, forget it.



2.) Being a klutzy doofus

Me in this situation:

ME: (taking a sip of coffee, feeling it go down the wrong pipe, and desperately forcing myself to swallow the rest of the coffee before the uncontrollable urge to cough takes over.  Swallowing and then coughing so forcefully for so long that I feel short of breath)
ETHAN: Are you okay?!?
ME: (continuing to cough so hard that my nose starts spewing)
ETHAN: Courtney?  Are you all right?
ME: (getting up to get a tissue, getting light-headed from lack of oxygen, and tipping over onto the floor underneath the table)
ETHAN: Okay.  Okay.  Just sit still.
ME: (trying to stand up)
ETHAN: Wait a minute, you're going to bang into-
ME: (standing up and crashing my back into the table)
ETHAN: That's what I was trying to tell you.


Madeleine in this situation:

MADELEINE: (in her room in a time-out after being rude to Ethan while on a bike ride)
ETHAN AND I: (hanging out in the dining room, and suddenly hearing a thundering crash from Madeleine's room) What was that??
MADELEINE: (silence)
ETHAN: (opening Madeleine's bedroom door) Are you okay?  What happened?
MADELEINE: (eyes brimming full of tears) I tried to sit on my bed and I fell on the floor!
ETHAN: You mean you missed?
MADELEINE: (tears overflowing) Yeaaaaah!!


Go, Courtney Elf genes!  Make the Rowe kids timid and klutzy!

New Book Series

Madeleine is creating a new book series, and she's already on Book 2!  It's a series about Mini Marshmallow and Bebe Bingo, who are best friends.  Mini Marshmallow is Hot Chocolate, and Bebe  Bingo is a Bingo Board.

ME: So, wait, are they Shopkins?
MADELEINE: No.  I made my OWN characters.

So, basically, she made Shopkins but isn't calling them Shopkins.

Here's the description on the back of Book 2:

Okay, well, this has definitely got my interest piqued.  Will Mini Marshmallow and Bebe Bingo stay BFFs?!?!?  And will Bebe Bingo learn to appolo what what??

Church Choir Challenge

Another Sunday, another adventure in the choir singer/mom balance in the books for me.

The girls enjoy sitting with me in the choir and they have learned most of the music at this point, so they are helpful contributors to the Liturgy.  However, they are also my children, and they prefer the choir experience to be carried out while simultaneously full-on interacting with me.

Today was an especially high stakes choir day, as our director was out of town, so we had one of our choir members (and former directors) fill in as guest conductor.  Our usual director gives us pitches from his tuning fork, so when he's not there, the job of giving pitches falls on me.  This requires me to look ahead at each upcoming thing we're about to sing, so that I can gauge the interval between the soprano and alto parts and give accurately spaced starting pitches for the two voice parts.  And because we are in the period following Easter, there is a lot of different music being substituted for things we normally sing, as the text of the Liturgy changes weekly for the 40 days after Easter.  So, needless to say, I had to concentrate extra hard to try and stay on the ball today.

Don't worry, though, the kids made SURE I didn't forget about them.  First of all, regardless of how much space we have around us, the girls prefer to stand with their bodies pressed against mine, rather than spreading out to the sides of me.  If I move at all to get myself some air, they just move their bodies, in blob-like fashion, right up against wherever I moved to.  This is pretty much our stance throughout every Sunday Liturgy:

Sometimes Madeleine gets in even closer and stands directly in front of me, leaning back against my body.  We get NIIIICE and cozy together.

Sometimes Madeleine likes to play games that she doesn't explain to me, like today, when I was frantically searching through my music folder for a substitute piece we were about to sing, and Madeleine decided it was fun to try and step on my feet with one of her feet.  No matter where I moved to in order to get out from under her foot, she would stretch her body, keeping one foot firmly planted, so that the other foot could reach and step upon my feet.

Sometimes the kids get in whispered, heated arguments with each other, like when Madeleine hurt Julia's feelings today.

ME: (whispering fiercely) What's the problem?
JULIA: (whispering fiercely) I don't LIKE when Madeleine says mean things.  She's always hurting my FEELINGS.
ME: (whispering back) Okay, just drop it for now.
JULIA: (whispering louder) But she says things like "I can't touch you because you have WARTS" and it makes me feel like I'm BAD-
ME: (whispering) Just drop it for now.
JULIA: (whispering) But-
ME: Shh.
JULIA: But-


Sometimes, Madeleine likes to criticize me if I sing something wrong, or even when I don't.

ME: (singing) A-men.
MADELEINE: (standing in front of me, with her body pressed against mine, tilting her head backwards to look up at me) You sang "O-men."
ME: No I didn't.
MADELEINE: You did!  You sang "O-men!"

Madeleine also took issue with the fact that I was giving pitches to the choir, despite the fact that I had been asked to do it.

SUBSTITUTE CHOIR DIRECTOR: (cuing me for pitches)
ME: (singing two pitches) Doo, doo.
MADELEINE: Shh!  Mommy!  Stop DOING that!

If I'm extra lucky, like I was today, some small minor thing happens and one kid or another CAN'T.  GET.  OVER.  IT.  As I was searching for yet another extra, different piece of music we were about to sing, I knocked a small, laminated icon off of my music stand.  I hadn't put the icon there; it had been on the stand when I first put my music book down, and it happened to flutter off as I rifled around for music.

ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Why did you do that?
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Mommy.  Look.  Look what you dropped.
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Mommy.  Down there.  Mommy.  Why did you put that down there?
ME: (trying to sing) Mommy.  Why did you put that on the floor?

Break in music.  I reached down to pick the icon up and return it to my stand.

ME: (resuming singing)
MADELEINE: Mommy.  Why did you pick that up?
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Why did you do that, Mommy?  Why did you pick that up?
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Mommy.  Why did you do that?

And BEST OF ALL is when one of the kids gets upset about something that really, really doesn't matter, and decided to grouchily perseverate on it for the rest of the church service.

Upon glimpsing the selfie I took (posted above) of us all cramped together, Madeleine decided that her head is not round enough for her liking.

ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: My head is like THIS big (making a tiny circle with her thumb and finger)
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: I have a SKINNY HEAD.
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: Julia has WAY more of a pumpkin head than me.
JULIA: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: (grabbing Julia's face to try and measure it with her hands.
ME: (trying to sing)
MADELEINE: I do NOT have a round head.  I have a TINY head.

This went on for at least 10 minutes.  Madeleine kept this grumpy puss on her face the whole time:

Man, look at that skinny head.


But substitute director, kid distractions and all, we made it through, and upon returning home, I discovered that Madeleine wasn't done with her games.

MADELEINE: Okay, Mommy.  Try and RESPOND to this with words.  (pounding her hands on the table five times in a row.)
ME: Uh...yes.
MADELEINE: No, Mommy.
ME: Oh.  (pounding my hand once for "yes.")
MADELEINE: No, Mommy.  You have to RESPOND to what you think I'm doing, with WORDS.
(pounding on the table five times in a row again.)

This went on for some time, and I had to have Ethan find out what Madeleine meant and give me a big hint in order to respond correctly.  And seriously, what kind of a dunce am I?  It turned out that Madeleine was pounding out the syllables of "Christos Anesti!" ("Christ is Risen!") and I was supposed to say "Alithos anesti!") ("Truly He is Risen!") in response.  What kind of a blockhead *doesn't* IMMEDIATELY think of that when her child is pounding on the table?!?!?

My Little Weirdos

Right now, Madeleine is dressed in a Harry Potter robe, talking softly in a British accent to an invisible imaginary person in the kitchen, and Julia is ecstatically carrying out "Gallop Time" through the living room and hallways.

It's hard to say which kid is the weirder one.

Trip to the Office

Today was "Take Your Child To Work" Day at Ethan's office, so the girls got to ride the train in with Daddy in the morning!  Julia wore her usual outfit: a swimming tee-shirt and athletic leggings.  Madeleine picked out her clothes with great care so that she would look "professional." Behold her looking chic in her Sequin Flip tee-shirt over a black long-sleeve top, with her outer space skirt over black leggings.

The kids had a fun time, although Madeleine was not a fan of the lunch option.  Apparently the pizza was "too saucy."  (Julia, of course, had no problem with it.)  The girls got to meet lots of other kids, and while Julia can recall the names and ages of the various children at the office, Madeleine remains oblivious.

MADELEINE: I made a friend!  She's 8 like me!
ME: What was her name?
MADELEINE: Ummm...I don't know.
ME: You can't remember?
MADELEINE: (brightly) Well, she's my friend, even though I can't remember her name!

That's the way the whole world should be, Madeleine.

I greeted the girls warmly upon their return, and learned just how much of a second fiddle I am in Madeleine's eyes.

ME: I missed you!
MADELEINE: I missed CLARA.
ME: But not me?
MADELEINE: (sheepishly) Sorrrryyy.  I was missing Clara because I was petting another doggie there!

Yeah, I know, it's to be expected.  Who is any child expected to miss more: their own mom, or their aunt's dog?  Duh!

Rainy Day "Fun"

It's a cold and sleety school vacation day.  The kids and I are stuck in the house.

Madeleine is writing a book called "The Ghost of Music Mansion."

Julia is sitting at the table, literally reading the phone book.  Like, cover to cover.  And then exclaiming in delight when she finds the names of people we know.

JULIA: (gasping) WE'RE in here!  I found US!
ME: Well, we do live in this town, honey.

I can understand her wonderment.  Imagine that, finding the names of people we know in our town while looking through a town-wide phone book.  What felicity!

I guess since she's already obsessively and repeatedly read through the school directory and the heat sheets from the YMCA Districts and New Englands meets, the phone book is the next logical step, right?

What's next, do you think?  The dictionary?

Animal Shelter

Madeleine has decided that she wants to open her very own Animal Shelter.  She plans to raise money in order to buy a building.

MADELEINE: Wait, Mommy, what's more expensive?  A building, or a HOUSE?
ME: A building.
MADELEINE: Okay.  Well, maybe if we can't raise enough for a building, we can just buy a house for the animals.

Her method of raising this money is simple: she wants to have a bake sale.  Not a lemonade stand, because that never really raises much money, but a bake sale is sure to do the trick.  Let me tell you: if she is able to raise enough money to BUY A BUILDING from holding a bake sale, she will be the most successful fund-raiser on the face of the earth.

In the meantime, however, Madeleine is constructing her shelter out of a cardboard box.  Because, same diff, right?

Madeleine asked me to help decorate her shelter, "with lots of BRIGHT COLORS, because we need to attract the animals!"  She has been very resourceful with recycled materials, even finding styrofoam on which to make an OPEN/CLOSED sign.

The plastic bags full of air are the dragon.  I'm not really sure what the dragon has to do with the animal shelter, but I do know that I was given the option between being a princess or dragon.  I chose princess, and had to battle it out something FIERCE against those puffy plastic bags in order to even get close to the animal shelter.  So maybe it's a sort of guard dragon??

I can see that this idea of Madeleine's is BOUND to be a success!

Second Grade Assembly

Today was Madeleine's 2nd Grade Assembly, and she has been preparing for the big day for at least a week.  She wasted no time this morning getting all her accoutrements together.

Fancy church dress ?  Check.
Sparkly shoes? Check.
Necklace? Check.
Bracelet? Check.
Plastic ring? Check.
Fingernails painted one color with a sparkle dot in another color over them?  Check.
Regular hoop earrings exchanged for special occasion earrings?  Check.

For the last bit of her ensemble, Madeleine needed my help.  She fantasized about a hairstyle that was a bun with two little braids.  Then she decided the little braids needed to be colored with Hair Chalk so that it was different colors weaving together.  She then required these little braids to be butterfly-clipped to the sides of her head.  Initially, she attempted to use clips she had made using clothespins and tissue-paper butterfly wings, but I convinced her that she'd be a lot more comfortable with small plastic clips.

Last but not least was an apron, because, after all, she had Art today and didn't want to ruin her outfit:

Of course, I wouldn't dream of missing such an important assembly, so I showed up in the afternoon to sit in the audience.  I got the pleasure of seeing Julia in the audience and sitting with her and one of her friends, who were much more sensibly dressed for the day:

Throughout the assembly, Madeleine sat still as a statue with a smile plastered on her face:

I made sure to video any part of the assembly that she took part in, so that none of you have to miss out on seeing it:








BRAVO, Madeleine!  So glad you had such an awesome performance experience!

Easter Weekend

It has been a busy weekend for the Rowes!  Yesterday, the girls had their swim banquet, and were delighted to both receive a trophy for their age group!  Madeleine got the MVP award, and Julia got Most Improved:

Despite getting a trophy for being the most valuable part of her age group, Madeleine decidedly opted to act like a toddler and set a great example for all her teammates by doing this with her cupcake:

After the girls went to bed last night, I agonized over where to hide their Easter baskets.  I was out of fresh, new ideas, and wanted to make my hiding spots challenging enough to merit a search but not so challenging that I would need to guide the kids along the whole time.  Julia is a ridiculously good hider in "Hide and Seek" and also tends to find hidden things *really* easily.  Madeleine is less able, as recently evidenced in her game of "Three-Digit Scoot."  I finally settled on hiding Julia's basket in Shannon's room, underneath her clothes rack and behind her row of shoes.  I hid Madeleine's on the window sill, behind the curtain in the play room.

This morning, nice and early, the kids burst into my bedroom to wish me a Happy Easter.  They were bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to hunt for their baskets.  I took a moment to get myself out of bed and then went downstairs, to find them both snuggling with Auntie Shannon in her bed.

ME: Are you gonna look for your Easter baskets?
JULIA: We're just really cold, so we had to get in bed.
ME: Well, Julia, I'll tell you one thing: you're definitely getting WARMER in here.
JULIA: Why?  Because I'm in bed?
ME: I'd just say that if you're looking for your Easter basket, you're getting WARMER.
JULIA: Why?  Because we're under the blankets?
ME: If you want to look for your Easter basket, you're pretty WARM already.
JULIA: What? Why am I warm?
ME: Where you are right now, you're definitely WARM.
JULIA: What?
MADELEINE: (speaking slowly, as if to a child) I *think* what Mommy's trying to say is that YOUR EASTER BASKET IS IN THIS ROOM, Julia.

Despite that super obvious hint, Julia proceeded to follow Madeleine and I out of the room as Madeleine went to search for her own basket.

JULIA: Mommy?  Can you just tell me whether my basket is hidden upstairs or downstairs?
ME: Honey.  I just gave you a HUGE hint.
JULIA: You did?  What was it?
ME: Oh my God.  Madeleine, can you please tell Julia where your Easter basket is?
MADELEINE: It's in Auntie Shannon's room.
JULIA: It is?  I didn't know that!

Seriously?!?  So much for expecting her to be a whiz at finding her basket.

At long last, both girls came across their baskets, and were able to peruse their loot:

Later in the morning, Julia, Madeleine, Yiayia and I headed to church for the Easter Vespers service, whereat I discovered the secret behind keeping Madeleine quiet and still.  Apparently, all it takes is a lit candle:

She sat and stood so erect and without a murmur that I was shocked.  At one point, I leaned over and whispered to her.

ME: (murmuring to Madeleine) You're showing me SUCH good behavior today.
MADELEINE: (whispering back without moving her head in my direction) This is TERRIFYING.
ME: Why??
MADELEINE: What if we light something on fire and burn down the entire CHURCH?

Luckily, nobody burned down the church, and we got out of the service and off to the following Easter egg hunt without calamity.

When we returned from church, we played the traditional Greek egg-cracking game called tsougrisma.  My family had grown up calling this game by a much simpler term: "Chingety-Mingety."  Hence, this is what my daughters also refer to the game as.  I displayed the carton of decorated eggs to all the players, allowing them to pick a color:

You'll notice the dark red egg in the bottom left slot; red eggs are a traditional part of Orthodox Easter, and are given out at the end of the service on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.  Madeleine had asked me to hold hers after the service so that she could go on the Easter egg hunt, and I promptly dropped it and cracked it on the pew floor.  Madeleine allowed me to put the egg in our carton to replace a previously eaten egg so that we had a full set.

MADELEINE: Oh, my red egg is in here, but I'm not gonna use it, because it already got Chingety-Minged!

This year's Tsougrisma champion was Julia, much to Madeleine's chagrin.  I was out on my first two attempts, cracking both ends of my egg, but both Rowe girls held strong until the very end.  Julia just edged out Madeleine by a hair (or hairline fracture,) and she is probably as proud of her victory as she was by yesterday's trophy.  Hey, it takes a lot of talent to be BOTH a fast swimmer AND a champion uncracked egg-holder!

Happy Easter to my fellow Orthodox blog-readers!

Talent Show

So, Madeleine came home from school today jubilant over her idea for the school talent show.  Apparently, she and her classmate, a new student from Australia, are going to sing a song together.  The song is one made up by Auntie Shannon that she sings with the kids as a joke.  It's to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and the words are:

Kookoo-Head Deluxe once said

Go to bed, wash your head.

Kookoo-Head Deluxe once said

Go to bed and wash your head.

I told her she needs to pick another song or another talent, and she burst into bitter tears.  

She also went to school wearing two coats today, one right over the other, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she thought singing "Kookoo-Head Deluxe" would be a good idea for a talent show.

Math Facts

In addition to creating her own Spelling Tic Tac Toe (and by the way, one of today's activities was "Recorder Spelling," so lucky me,) Madeleine made herself a Math Facts game.  This game is WAY beyond the simple "roll the dice and add one to the number you land on" types of worksheets her teacher hands out.

Allow me to introduce you to:

"3 Digit Scoot!"

This game involves 25 scraps of paper, labeled 1-25, upon which are written an individual addition equation of two 3-digit numbers.  I was instructed to hide the scraps of paper around the house for Madeleine to find.  Once found, the equation would need to be solved, and the answer written in the box corresponding to the number of the scrap.  So it's part Scavenger Hunt, part Arithmetic.

We did this all afternoon.  Madeleine still has 12 scraps she hasn't found.  Some other lucky members of the Rowe household may get some numerical surprises in some unexpected places over the next few days!  Hooray!

Reading Log

Every Monday, Madeleine comes home from school with a reading log for the week.  Not only must she log 20 minutes of reading per day, but she must practice math facts AND spelling words.  The spelling word practice suggestions are in the form of Tic-Tac-Toe; she has to pick three of the options and check them off.  The practice suggestions include such options as "Rainbow Writing," or writing each spelling word using different colors, or "Jumping Jacks," in which she spells the words in time as she jumps.

This Monday, Madeleine's teacher neglected to hand out a Reading Log.  Never mind that, though; Madeleine created one of her own.  She even created her own Spelling Word Tic-Tac-Toe, and rather than sticking to the usual activities, she decided to up the ante:

Now, Madeleine can choose between these options!:

"Dizzy Confusion"
Run in circles while spelling your words

"Basketball Baskets"
Try to get a basket.  Each try is 1 letter.

"Write and Draw"
Write your words along with a picture

"Exercise Upgrade"
Do squats for each letter

"Twirling Letters"
Write your words in a circle

"Volleyball Super Challenge"
Do volleyball while spelling your words

"Musical Spelling"
Spell your words in song-form

"Recorder Spelling"
Play a note on recorder.  After, say your letter.

"Dance Party Dances"
Have a dance party while spelling your words



WOW!  I have to admit, these options definitely seem a lot more fun than the usual options like "type each word three times each."  And "Dizzy Confusion" is TOTALLY the new "Jumping Jacks Spelling."