To fully enjoy the beautiful, unseasonably warm weather today, I decided to take Madeleine to a nearby playground, both of us traveling on foot. The entire trip was full of Madeleine-isms, starting within our very first few minutes of walking. Thoroughly delighted at the chance to walk by herself, instead of being stuck in the stroller, Madeleine burst forth with her drunken-staggering hop-walking down the sidewalk; that is, until she heard the noise of lawnmowers and leaf-blowers at a house across the street from where we were walking. Frantically reaching her hands up towards me, she demanded that I rescue her from the fearsome sound.
MADELEINE: Mommy? Carry me to the NOISE?
ME: It's okay, Madeleine. The noise won't hurt us. Let's keep walking. I'll hold your hand.
MADELEINE: Mommy? Carry me to the NOISE?
ME: Don't be scared of the noise. Let's keep walking.
MADELEINE: I want Mommy carry me to the NOISE?
ME: We're almost past the lawn mowers. Don't worry.
MADELEINE: (as we moved past the mowers) That's so better to the noise.
ME: Yeah, see, I told you the noise wasn't scary.
MADELEINE: It's just LAWN MOWERS! That's SO better to the noise.
ME: Did the noise make you feel scared?
MADELEINE: Yeah. I scared to the NOISE.
As we continued along our walk, I insisted Madeleine hold my hand anytime we crossed an intersecting street, which apparently made her feel the need to have me assist her in "crossing the tree" as well.
MADELEINE: Mommy carry me crossing the tree?
ME: You don't need me to carry you. You're okay. Let's hold hands.
MADELEINE: Yeah, we're crossing the tree. Mommy, I did it! I cross to the tree ALL by MYSELF!
ME: (having no idea what tree we supposedly crossed) Great job, Madeleine!
MADELEINE: Yeah! I crossed to the TREE!
When we got to the playground, Madeleine busied herself climbing ladders, turning steering wheels, going down the slide, crawling through tunnels, and so forth. As another little girl arrived at the park with her grandparents, Madeleine decided to go into one of the baby swings, and the little girl went in the swing beside her. Hearing the other girl giggle with glee as her grandmother pushed her, Madeleine decided to prove that she shares her sister's utterly random associations and began forcing out some raucus fake laughter.
ME: Are you laughing?
MADELEINE: Yeah! I laughing at PINKIE PIE!
A few minutes later, Madeleine's stuffy nose began bothering her, and she asked me for some assistance.
MADELEINE: Mommy, I have STICKY nose.
ME: Your nose is stuffy?
MADELEINE: Yeah, I have STICKY nose. Mommy wipe my sticky nose?
So I used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her nose, but I guess my efforts fell short of her expectations.
MADELEINE: Mommy? Wipe my OTHER nose?
What could I do besides wipe her other nose.
As we walked home after a fun half hour on the playground, Madeleine languished in the entire experience, stopping every few steps to play with leaves on the ground, and at one point she picked up a large stick, pulled off every leaf attached to it, then continued walking as she brandished her sword.
MADELEINE: Mommy? I just carrying my stick. I want to take my stick to the home?
I allowed her to take it to the home, but it wasn't allowed to come IN to the home, so it is now sitting out on our front lawn, awaiting its owner's return next time we go to play outside.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
D-d-d-d-d-Dora
You've heard Julia sing the theme song from Dora the Explorer, but it turns out she's not the only one in the house who knows it word for word (for the most part):
FWIPER, NO FWIPING!!!
FWIPER, NO FWIPING!!!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Julia's logic
Julia thinks out the answers to some real stumpers:
As we rode by the Coldwell Banker real estate office on the 59 bus, we saw a man carrying a huge American flag on a pole into the office.
JULIA: Mom, why was that person carrying a flag inside that building?
ME: I don't know. I was wondering that too. I'm not sure why.
JULIA: Well, maybe he needs to get it fixed.
Ah, yes, the real estate office, doubling as a flag-repair shop...
After we missed our bus stop because the stop-request button that I pushed failed to work:
JULIA: Mom, I can't see where we go onto the other sidewalk.
ME: Well, we have a ways still. See that across the street? That's the playground. So there's no sidewalk on that side of the street for awhile.
JULIA: What? How is that the playground? Mama, did we MISS our stop?
ME: Yes, we had to get off further down the road because the stop request button didn't work and the bus went by our stop.
JULIA: Mama, thank you so much for telling me, because I was so confused that I didn't RECOGNIZE anything!
ME: Yeah, we have to walk a little further because we got off at a different spot.
JULIA: But why didn't the stop request work?
ME: I have no idea. I pressed it over and over but it wouldn't work.
JULIA: Mama, maybe the batteries died.
Must be.
At home, picking up a pair of totally useless kid scissors that came with a birthday gift from Julia's 3rd b-day party:
JULIA: Mama, why don't these scissors work?
ME: I don't know, but they really don't cut well.
JULIA: Mom, maybe Vivan was getting tired of giving everybody things that work, so she just got me these.
Uh... yeah.
As we rode by the Coldwell Banker real estate office on the 59 bus, we saw a man carrying a huge American flag on a pole into the office.
JULIA: Mom, why was that person carrying a flag inside that building?
ME: I don't know. I was wondering that too. I'm not sure why.
JULIA: Well, maybe he needs to get it fixed.
Ah, yes, the real estate office, doubling as a flag-repair shop...
After we missed our bus stop because the stop-request button that I pushed failed to work:
JULIA: Mom, I can't see where we go onto the other sidewalk.
ME: Well, we have a ways still. See that across the street? That's the playground. So there's no sidewalk on that side of the street for awhile.
JULIA: What? How is that the playground? Mama, did we MISS our stop?
ME: Yes, we had to get off further down the road because the stop request button didn't work and the bus went by our stop.
JULIA: Mama, thank you so much for telling me, because I was so confused that I didn't RECOGNIZE anything!
ME: Yeah, we have to walk a little further because we got off at a different spot.
JULIA: But why didn't the stop request work?
ME: I have no idea. I pressed it over and over but it wouldn't work.
JULIA: Mama, maybe the batteries died.
Must be.
At home, picking up a pair of totally useless kid scissors that came with a birthday gift from Julia's 3rd b-day party:
JULIA: Mama, why don't these scissors work?
ME: I don't know, but they really don't cut well.
JULIA: Mom, maybe Vivan was getting tired of giving everybody things that work, so she just got me these.
Uh... yeah.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Pony Adventures
Madeleine took My Little Ponies Minty and Fluttershy on a wild adventure this morning:
After which she took them on an EVEN MORE EXCITING triangle adventure:
I'm not entirely sure where they went on their adventure, but it certainly looks like they got a good workout in!
After which she took them on an EVEN MORE EXCITING triangle adventure:
I'm not entirely sure where they went on their adventure, but it certainly looks like they got a good workout in!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Back to Children's Museum
Julia has been asking if we could visit the Children's Museum in Easton again, so this afternoon the Rowes headed on over. Since she remembered every detail of our summertime trip there, Julia had planned out her agenda while on the car trip over. First up: face paint. I urged her not to paint the entirety of her face this time, since her last face-painting extravaganza led to a swollen eye and a trip to the doctor. She took a more conservative, but still very expressively artistic, approach today:
Next up was the play-kitchen area, where both girls created wonderful faux-food meals for me. I was particularly impressed with Madeleine's piece de resistance:
"Here you go, Mom! A cookie and a watermelon!"
After my delicious feast, we headed into the doctor's office, where Ethan and I had the pleasure of becoming grandparents. Julia gave birth first, to a daughter named Marina. I guess she must have given birth in the wheelchair en route to the delivery room:
But that's okay, because we had Doctor Ethan on hand to immediately check her out:
Madeleine gave birth next, although she seemed much more interested in getting a fun ride around the room in the wheelchair than in her baby:
And in a strange twist of events, Julia wound up leaving the hospital on crutches. Why? "Because I had a baby!":
Next up was the dinosaur room, in which Madeleine took the time to pick up each and every dinosaur and label it for me: "That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's ALLOSAURUS! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a ROAR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a SHARK!"
Shark.
She really enjoyed pretend-playing with the dinosaurs, especially the Brachiosauri, who had a heart-felt reunion while crying out, "I found you!":
Unfortunately, the fun came to an end when, just as while watching last week's episode of "Curious George," Madeleine became "scared to the dinosaur" after Julia held out one of the dinosaurs and made a roaring sound at her sister:
Soooo, we decided to head to a different room and re-direct. The girls got a chance to go inside the space shuttle and be astronauts, although the helmet was a weeeee bit enormous on Madeleine:
I don't think either child actually wanted to leave when it was time to go, proven by Madeleine's wails of "I wanna go back in MUSEEEEEEUM!" as I dragged her along to the car, so all and all, it was a successful outing. My little chefs/new mothers/paleontologists/astronauts seemed to thoroughly enjoy their museum visit.
Next up was the play-kitchen area, where both girls created wonderful faux-food meals for me. I was particularly impressed with Madeleine's piece de resistance:
"Here you go, Mom! A cookie and a watermelon!"
After my delicious feast, we headed into the doctor's office, where Ethan and I had the pleasure of becoming grandparents. Julia gave birth first, to a daughter named Marina. I guess she must have given birth in the wheelchair en route to the delivery room:
But that's okay, because we had Doctor Ethan on hand to immediately check her out:
Madeleine gave birth next, although she seemed much more interested in getting a fun ride around the room in the wheelchair than in her baby:
And in a strange twist of events, Julia wound up leaving the hospital on crutches. Why? "Because I had a baby!":
Next up was the dinosaur room, in which Madeleine took the time to pick up each and every dinosaur and label it for me: "That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's ALLOSAURUS! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a ROAR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a DINOSAUR! That's a SHARK!"
Shark.
She really enjoyed pretend-playing with the dinosaurs, especially the Brachiosauri, who had a heart-felt reunion while crying out, "I found you!":
Unfortunately, the fun came to an end when, just as while watching last week's episode of "Curious George," Madeleine became "scared to the dinosaur" after Julia held out one of the dinosaurs and made a roaring sound at her sister:
Soooo, we decided to head to a different room and re-direct. The girls got a chance to go inside the space shuttle and be astronauts, although the helmet was a weeeee bit enormous on Madeleine:
I don't think either child actually wanted to leave when it was time to go, proven by Madeleine's wails of "I wanna go back in MUSEEEEEEUM!" as I dragged her along to the car, so all and all, it was a successful outing. My little chefs/new mothers/paleontologists/astronauts seemed to thoroughly enjoy their museum visit.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Style and singing
Madeleine decided to don some accessories while I was teaching piano lessons yesterday afternoon, going for her typical bohemian chic look once again:
The dichotomy of a pair of Crocs against a winter hat and scarf totally *makes* this outfit, don't you think?
Meanwhile, Julia was busy composing yet another hit song. Although she didn't give me an official title, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's called "Do it":
Rock ON!
The dichotomy of a pair of Crocs against a winter hat and scarf totally *makes* this outfit, don't you think?
Meanwhile, Julia was busy composing yet another hit song. Although she didn't give me an official title, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's called "Do it":
Rock ON!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Child of the Week
Today was a big day for Julia at her school. As "Child of the Week," she got to bring in a parent - yours truly - to help out in the classroom for the day. In addition, she got to bring in a special snack (pumpkin muffins), and was today's calendar helper:
She also got to choose three items from home and bring them to school in the class Dinosaur bag and present them for show-and-tell today. The three items she opted for were:
As we packed her items in the Dinosaur bag, I imagined all the detailed things she would have to say as she showed them to the class. I was in for a bit of a surprise there; most of you blog readers are familiar with the energetic, verbose, often goofy Julia that I see every day. Apparently at school she is more of a subdued, shy Julia, which, I guess, makes sense, seeing as I was quite shy and quiet as a kid. Here's a general synopsis of how show-and-tell went:
JULIA: (holding up the sheet music to "Frere Jacques") Um, Mama, YOU tell them what it is.
ME: Why don't you tell them about it?
JULIA: (smiling shyly) I don't know.
TEACHERS: Is that music?
KIDS: (all shouting over each other) Do you play the piano? My sister has that! Oh, my sister plays the piano and SHE has that! I HAVE THAT AT MY HOUSE!
ME: Julia, what instrument do you play?
JULIA: The piano.
ME: And is this one of the songs you play?
JULIA: (nodding and handing me the music to get her next item.)
TEACHERS: How long have you been playing the piano?
JULIA: A long time.
ME: Well, since the summer.
TEACHERS: And what else do you have?
JULIA: (holding up one of her My Little Ponies) My mom got me this for Easter.
ME: And what is it?
JULIA: A pony.
ME: What's her name?
JULIA: Fluttershy.
KIDS: (shouting over each other) We have My Little Pony! Oh, my SISTER has MY LITTLE PONY! WE DON'T HAVE MY LITTLE PONY!
JULIA: (handing me Fluttershy and getting her next item.)
TEACHERS: What else did you bring?
JULIA: (holding up her Halloween necklace) My dad's mother got this for me.
ME: And what do you call her?
JULIA: Nana.
TEACHERS: Did it come like that, or did you make it?
JULIA: I made it.
KIDS: (all shouting over each other) OH, I HAVE ONE OF THOSE! I have one but it only has two pumpkins and beads, it doesn't have the other thing. I HAVE A GHOST!!!
Once show-and-tell was over with, the kids got busy playing, and Julia wanted me right by her side in every activity she took part in. It was nice seeing her social interaction with her peers, using her manners ("Excuse me, I need to put this puzzle piece here!") and initiating play. She even got to play her "Frere Jacques" on the piano for the class, during which she was much more confident and less shy than she had been for show-and-tell. Perhaps the highlight of the day for me was that I got to do a music session with the class, getting a chance to know all of her class-mates.
Here are a few pictures of Julia at play:
And a big thank-you to Ethan, who stayed home with Madeleine this morning so that I could go and be the parent helper at school. Although I do wonder what on earth he did with Madeleine today, seeing as her first comment to me upon returning home was, "Mom, I had fun Daddy's CHURCH!"
She also got to choose three items from home and bring them to school in the class Dinosaur bag and present them for show-and-tell today. The three items she opted for were:
As we packed her items in the Dinosaur bag, I imagined all the detailed things she would have to say as she showed them to the class. I was in for a bit of a surprise there; most of you blog readers are familiar with the energetic, verbose, often goofy Julia that I see every day. Apparently at school she is more of a subdued, shy Julia, which, I guess, makes sense, seeing as I was quite shy and quiet as a kid. Here's a general synopsis of how show-and-tell went:
JULIA: (holding up the sheet music to "Frere Jacques") Um, Mama, YOU tell them what it is.
ME: Why don't you tell them about it?
JULIA: (smiling shyly) I don't know.
TEACHERS: Is that music?
KIDS: (all shouting over each other) Do you play the piano? My sister has that! Oh, my sister plays the piano and SHE has that! I HAVE THAT AT MY HOUSE!
ME: Julia, what instrument do you play?
JULIA: The piano.
ME: And is this one of the songs you play?
JULIA: (nodding and handing me the music to get her next item.)
TEACHERS: How long have you been playing the piano?
JULIA: A long time.
ME: Well, since the summer.
TEACHERS: And what else do you have?
JULIA: (holding up one of her My Little Ponies) My mom got me this for Easter.
ME: And what is it?
JULIA: A pony.
ME: What's her name?
JULIA: Fluttershy.
KIDS: (shouting over each other) We have My Little Pony! Oh, my SISTER has MY LITTLE PONY! WE DON'T HAVE MY LITTLE PONY!
JULIA: (handing me Fluttershy and getting her next item.)
TEACHERS: What else did you bring?
JULIA: (holding up her Halloween necklace) My dad's mother got this for me.
ME: And what do you call her?
JULIA: Nana.
TEACHERS: Did it come like that, or did you make it?
JULIA: I made it.
KIDS: (all shouting over each other) OH, I HAVE ONE OF THOSE! I have one but it only has two pumpkins and beads, it doesn't have the other thing. I HAVE A GHOST!!!
Once show-and-tell was over with, the kids got busy playing, and Julia wanted me right by her side in every activity she took part in. It was nice seeing her social interaction with her peers, using her manners ("Excuse me, I need to put this puzzle piece here!") and initiating play. She even got to play her "Frere Jacques" on the piano for the class, during which she was much more confident and less shy than she had been for show-and-tell. Perhaps the highlight of the day for me was that I got to do a music session with the class, getting a chance to know all of her class-mates.
Here are a few pictures of Julia at play:
And a big thank-you to Ethan, who stayed home with Madeleine this morning so that I could go and be the parent helper at school. Although I do wonder what on earth he did with Madeleine today, seeing as her first comment to me upon returning home was, "Mom, I had fun Daddy's CHURCH!"
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