Question of the Day

Question of the Day from Julia:

"Do fish have a vagina?"

Answer from Mommy: "Ummmm... I don't really know. Hang on. Let me look it up on my computer."

I then proceeded to google the exact question she had asked me, and in the process came across a lot of very inappropriate links that did not answer the question at hand. After re-directing myself to Wikipedia and searching for "fish anatomy" I was able to tell her that while they do have a spout for excreting liquid waste, they do not in fact have vaginas.

The entire question came about because Julia was playing in the bath tub with her little plastic fish, filling it up with water and then squirting the water out, which led her to wonder if fish go pee, which then led to the above-mentioned question. I'm telling you, having an almost-4-year-old is really giving me a chance to expand my knowledge of subjects I would never have thought nor cared about.

The poetic and the very unpoetic

Julia waxed poetic this morning as I came over to the breakfast table to give her a hug and kiss. In fact, were it not for the end of her statement, I would have thought she was reciting a poem she'd heard from either a book or movie. "Night is her hair," she told me, stroking my hair, "morning is her skin, and the stars in her eyes, and the wood on her head!" I asked her where she got that from, and she told me she just got it from herself. So I took my night hair, morning skin, starry eyes and wooden head and repeated it to Ethan, who got a pretty big kick out of it.

The poetic speech didn't last, unfortunately; by the time breakfast was done Julia had taken a turn for the contrary. For no obvious reason, except for the fact that she woke up extra early this morning, and she didn't want me doing a ponytail in her hair, despite the fact that her hair was "not cooperating! It KEEPS going in my face when I try and eat my breakfast!" Julia quite contrary lasted for much of the early morning; the various colored shapes on Madeleine's walker were ORANGE, they were NOT yellow, blue, red, etc. Julia's name is Mommy, she's going to call herself mommy, not me. She doesn't want to watch ANY shoes, she just wants to stay in her room FOREVER. Etc etc. Luckily, after being ignored for awhile, she got over her grouchiness and apologized for being contrary, and now she's back to playing with Little People who have pet wolves that they trained and who hear a sound out their window. They're timid to look out, but when they do, it is not a squirrel; they see all these creatures that were never there before. Also, if a thief tries to get into their house, they just cut up the thief. Then they heard another sound and they look out the window and they think it's the Big Bad Wolf, but it's NOT! - it's an OWL out there, not a Big Bad Wolf.

Phew! That was a close one.

Getting cozy, and new standing tricks

This morning while Julia was eating her breakfast, she wanted Ethan to read her a book. Since it was chilly in our house, Ethan got himself a blanket to wrap up in, and Julia asked him to wrap it around her as well. As soon as they were both snuggled together underneath the fleece blanket, Julia turned to Ethan and said, "Now we're as cozy as a whistle!" I myself, I must admit, have never experienced being cozy as a whistle, so it's hard for me to imagine what such coziness would feel like. Next time maybe I'll have to squeeze myself inside the blanket as well.

Madeleine is talking more and more, and did a full out "Doul-i-a" this morning while looking at her sister. She also mastered a new trick today: standing up directly from sitting down, without pulling up on anything. She looks extremely proud of herself as she does it, although she still proceeds to sit back down and crawl to her destination rather than attempt a step. I can't imagine it will be long before she tries, although she has been pretty stubborn about it so far. While not standing up from a seated position, she took some time to stand on her high chair tray like this:



Speaking of standing, I can hear her right now on the baby monitor; she's in her crib and is supposed to be napping, but all she wants to do is her new standing-up-from-sitting trick, followed by a flop down onto her bum, then standing up again, and so forth. This has been going on for the past 20 minutes, so I suppose that's my cue to end this post and release her from her jail cell before she figures out how to climb out over the railing.

Madeleine goes to the dr

Madeleine had her 1-year checkup today, and all in all she's doing well. In fact, she decided to work on some of her emerging skills while at the doctor's office, beginning with her newfound realization that she doesn't trust people she doesn't know. The poor medical assistant tried every trick in the book to get Madeleine to crack a smile, but she responded by staring warily at the woman, followed by a wail of indignation that this strange lady would dare to try and play peek-a-boo with her. Following the exit of the medical assistant, Madeleine decided to hone her pronunciation of "uh-oh" by evolving from "uh" to a full out "uh-oh." What helped her practice this word repeatedly was to drop everything I handed her, from the toys in her diaper bag to her sippy cup full of milk, onto the (probably germy) examining room floor, declaring "Uh-oh!" with each new item that clattered down to the ground. She does get major props, however, for her completely stoic reaction to getting her finger pricked to test her hemoglobin. The medical assistant even said she's never had a baby who didn't cry after the finger prick. So Madeleine has set a record for bravery.

Since returning home and the apprehension about the scary stranger medical assistant lady, Madeleine has been calling for me every second that I'm further than a few inches from her. "Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama!" I am thrilled that she has really learned to say my "name," but also somewhat jealous of the fact that Ethan gets the delighted "DADA!"s and I get all the desperate, needy "Mama! Mama!"s.

Finally, Madeleine decided to show off her eating skills - and her ability to save herself from choking - by shoving her face full of pretzel goldfish, gagging on them, and spitting them out. How many did she spit out? 6. 6 goldfish shoved into her mouth at once. I'm not quite sure why she doesn't finish chewing one before stuffing another into her mouth, but apparently I can only give her one at a time from now on.

Bedtime for Frances

It appears that nothing is more exciting for a nearly 4 year old child than a bunch of new 1-year old toys in the house. Julia has had her hands on Madeleine's new toys more than Madeleine herself has, even taking it upon herself to give Madeleine's new baby doll a name (Baby Nurky.) Madeleine, at least, has gotten the chance to enjoy her play phone and remote, putting both up to her ear and saying "O?"

Yia-yia was kind enough to bring a few gifts for Julia as well, and despite Julia's interest in her sister's loot, she is definitely excited about one of the books Yia-yia brought, Bedtime for Frances. The subject matter of this book is too appropriate, dealing with Frances's imagination running away with itself at night in her bedroom. At one point, Frances is scared that the crack in her ceiling might be harboring all kinds of bugs, which really hits home for Julia, who also has a crack in her ceiling. I guess she's tougher about it than Frances, though, as evidenced by this exchange we had:

JULIA: Mama, when Yia-yia comes over again, I'll tell her I'm not scared of my crack, and that I just named it Cracky.
ME: Yia-yia will be so proud that you're not scared of your crack.
JULIA: Yeah. I gave birth to my crack.
ME: You gave birth to your crack!?
JULIA: NOOOO! Just kidding!

Happy Birthday, Madeleine!

Today is Madeleine's 1st birthday! Yia-yia, Auntie Shannon, Auntie Caitlyn and Yia-yia Megali came to visit and celebrate with us Rowes. For her part, Madeleine seemed completely oblivious to the fact that it was her birthday, though she was overly delighted about Clara, Auntie Shannon's chihuahua, flapping her arms around and proclaiming, "Baby. Baby. Baby." I tried to teach her to say "doggie," which she imitated without difficulty, then proceded to label Clara a baby every time the dog trotted into the room. Madeleine also decided to skip her naps today, and then was so overstimulated from cake and presents that she has been flopping around in her crib squealing delightedly for the past half an hour. The cake was a big hit; she shoveled piece after piece into her mouth. The presents were a bit overwhelming and she spent much of the time looking around in confusion, wondering why we were handing her toy after toy when her usual post-dinner routine is to brush her teeth and go to bed. I think tomorrow when she actually gets a chance to play with her toys, rather than having one toy shoved in front of her, then grabbed away to be replaced by another toy, she will be more excited about the new loot.

Julia spent the day as typical Julia, starting with some contrary behavior during her bath (after getting soap in her eyes and then freaking out about it, she elected to respond to my question "How are your eyes doing??" with "They're NOT eyes, Mama. They're EARS.") She also fulfilled her random statement quota by telling Auntie Shannon, who offered to play "Dora Saves the Mermaids" on her computer so Julia could watch at the breakfast table, "You never know when you're going to do something that's PERFECT." She also told Auntie Caitlyn that she wants to have bunk beds with Madeleine when she's 8 and Madeleine's 7. After some careful reflection, she realized her counting error, and corrected herself: "Uh, Auntie Caitlyn, I think I made a mistake. I meant to say that I want to have bunk beds when Madeleine's 8 and I'm 7."

All in all, both girls had a fun day, and it was a great first birthday celebration for Madeleine!

Hodgepodge

Yesterday I had the girls with me while teaching piano lessons, and Madeleine was starting to fall apart about ten minutes before I ended for the day. In a desperate attempt to distract her so I could keep my student focused, I started pulling things out of my purse for her to play with, including a box of crayons and a pen, neither of which interested her. I then handed her my brush, which she promptly put up to hear ear, saying "O?" She does seem to understand the true function of a brush, however; today after her bath she grabbed her little baby brush and began brushing her own hair. So apparently only an adult-sized brush resembles a telephone, in her eyes.

Madeleine has also been attempting to pronounce some new words, which is exciting. My favorite new word is "Doul," which is Madeleine-ese for Julia. She also tried to say Cheerios yesterday, and got pretty close to the mark with something like "Chooeeeoo." And I may be speaking too soon, but we haven't heard the "s" word in a few days... perhaps it's being phased out as some new words are phased in.

Finally, on a completely unrelated note, I leave you with this picture: