Marathon Monday

Today was Marathon Monday in Boston, so we Rowes went to our usual viewing point in Wellesley to cheer on the marathoners.  We clapped and shouted encouragements at the many runners as they passed the halfway point, and as time went on, Ethan and Julia decided to do something EXTRA special to entertain spectators and runners alike.  It's called "The Farmer Dance," something Julia came up with to go along with the Farmer Bob, Jeff, and Bill poems she and her friends write.  As you can see, Madeleine was WAY too cool to join in:




However, after a LOT of peer pressure, Madeleine was basically forced into participating.  Ethan commanded it as her "punishment" for accidentally head-butting him in the lip while he Farmer Danced, and I heaped a lot of guilt on her about my blog post being incomplete without a video of her dancing along with her dad and sister. 

We're really good parents, I know.




I mean, sometimes when you're running a long race, you need a little fun distraction, right?  I hope some of the runners appreciated the scene.

Madeleine might have been embarrassed to know us at the marathon, but she showed her love for me later in the day.  I saw her writing on a piece of note paper with a Sharpie, but as I walked by her, I noticed her hiding her output.

MADELEINE: (sharply) Don't look!
ME: Oh.  Sorry.  Okay.


A few minutes later, Madeleine approached me with writer's block.

MADELEINE: Mommy?  What does "YOUTHFUL" mean?
ME: It means young.  Either being young, or looking or acting young.
MADELEINE: (clearly disappointed) Oh.


Finally, the secret was revealed, and I was presented with this:

I guess Madeleine does not view her 40-year-old mother as youthful.  So instead of "youthful," she went with...uh...."you." 

ME: Oh, so you decided "youthful" isn't a good word to describe me?
MADELEINE: Well, Mommy.  I already looked up TONS of definitions of words that begin with "Y" and nothing was working.  Then I thought of "yourself," so I just did "you."

I mean, she's not wrong.  I am me, after all.  Too bad I didn't make the cut for "youthful," though.  Maybe if I had joined in the Farmer Dance, she would have thought of my actions as youthful, at least.