Julia has been singing this all night:
Clever, right? Not at all likely to get annoyingly stuck in anybody's ear.
Now, of course, she is singing the real "Yankee Doodle" while marching about the house, instead of brushing her teeth and getting to bed. It's a good thing she's such a budding creative genius of song composition, otherwise I might have to insist she cut the malarkey and get to sleep.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Trolls
This afternoon, the girls watched the movie "Trolls." After dinner, as they sat eating the frosted heart-shaped cookies I baked as a Valentine's treat, a miniscule bit of purple frosting fell off a cookie and onto the table. Madeleine is now treasuring this tiny purple hardened blob, convinced that it's really a troll. She paused multiple times during our family Hearts game to caress it, kiss it, and check on its general well-being. Apparently the "troll" came with her to her bedroom. I learned this the hard way when I sat on Madeleine's bed and began looking for her stuffed Jesus to get her settled for bedtime.
MADELEINE: (gasping in horrified panic) Wait!! Mommy!! My troll!! (frantically searching her comforter). Oh! Phew. I found it.
ME: Honey, you know that"s a piece of frosting, right?
MADELEINE: It's my troll.
ME: Well, how about, instead of playing with a piece of frosting, you just put a Troll doll on your wish list?
Nope. Not an option. The piece of frosting is now sitting on the floor beside Madeleine's bed. This is just the kind of household pest-inviting behavior I want to encourage around here.
Madeleine's troll.
MADELEINE: (gasping in horrified panic) Wait!! Mommy!! My troll!! (frantically searching her comforter). Oh! Phew. I found it.
ME: Honey, you know that"s a piece of frosting, right?
MADELEINE: It's my troll.
ME: Well, how about, instead of playing with a piece of frosting, you just put a Troll doll on your wish list?
Nope. Not an option. The piece of frosting is now sitting on the floor beside Madeleine's bed. This is just the kind of household pest-inviting behavior I want to encourage around here.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Madeleine's New Business Idea
Well, at the ripe old age of 7, Madeleine is ready to launch her career, side by side with her sister. She even created her own advertisement:
Introducing:
Silly Sisters
made up of Illistrater Madeleine
and Athur Julia
Madeleine's idea is to create picture books, illustrated by herself and written by Julia. She is determined to get this business underway as soon as possible, and began trying to affix her advertisement to our front windows.
MADELEINE: Mommy? HOW can I stick this to the window? Can you get me some tape?
ME: Oh, honey, I really don't want you taping things to the window.
MADELEINE: But I *need* to hang this!
ME: What is it?
MADELEINE: Okay. So Mommy. Me and Julia are gonna have jobs. We're gonna make picture books and Julia's gonna write them and I'm gonna illustrate them.
ME: Okay. Why do you need to hang this?
MADELEINE: Because Mommy! How else would people know to ORDER them?
ME: Well, you should probably have some books made first before you advertise.
MADELEINE: No! Mommy! We need to start RIGHT AWAY! Because I really really want to have a job when I'm a kid!
ME: Why?
MADELEINE: Because. It would just be so much more FUN to have a job.
ME: It's really not that fun to have a job.
MADELEINE: But Mommy! I want to have a job when I'm a KID!
ME: Kids don't really need jobs though.
MADELEINE: Albert Einstein had a job when he was a kid!!
So we hung her poster after all, using suction cups and hole-punching the paper to hang from the suction cups hooks. Now Silly Sisters can truly begin!
Unfortunately, Julia is not a willing participant in this endeavor.
JULIA: Madeleine. I don't WANT to write books with you.
MADELEINE: Julia, PLEASE??
JULIA: Why don't you just write them yourself?
MADELEINE: No! I can't! I'm not GOOD at writing! Besides, writing is so BORING!
JULIA: But Madeleine. The books I write AREN'T picture books.
MADELEINE: Julia, I *only* like making the pictures!
JULIA: But Madeleine! I don't MAKE picture books. My books never have any pictures in them!
I tried to subtly intervene.
ME: Julia, maybe you can just write a short story or something and Madeleine can come up with the illustrations. Like a children's book.
MADELEINE: No, Mommy! If Julia writes all the words first, then it's like she's the BOSS of me and I *have* to make the pictures SHE wants!
ME: Honey, that's how books work. The story comes first, then the pictures.
MADELEINE: No, but I want to make the pictures that I come up with!
ME: Then make a book with only pictures and no words.
MADELEINE: No, those kids of books are DOPEY.
ME: Then write the words that go with your pictures yourself.
MADELEINE: I *can't.* My writing is all FUNKY.
ME: What do you mean?
MADELEINE: (scampering off to her room) I'll SHOW you.
Madeleine them emerged with some random pages of classwork and pointed out her hand-writing.
MADELEINE: See? Look! Look at how BAD I am at writing these letters.
So it turns out she wants Julia for her hand-writing skills, not her story-telling prowess. No wonder Madeleine thinks the writing part is boring. Nobody prefers to hand-write things over typing or, better yet, dictating what you want and having your sister hand-write it out.
Julia has other projects in mind; namely, the formation of an American Girl band and chorus! She even used her own Honors Chorus program as a model to create a program for her dolls:
I'm impressed. Every single doll that she and Madeleine own are in the band AND chorus. I never knew they had such musical dolls. And I'm double impressed by the fact that child prodigy Baby Lily plays the trumpet AND the violin, as well as sings in the chorus!
Baby Lily Rowe, the most accomplished infant on Earth.
And here I thought *my* girls were accomplished by starting a book-creation business as kids.
Introducing:
Silly Sisters
made up of Illistrater Madeleine
and Athur Julia
Madeleine's idea is to create picture books, illustrated by herself and written by Julia. She is determined to get this business underway as soon as possible, and began trying to affix her advertisement to our front windows.
MADELEINE: Mommy? HOW can I stick this to the window? Can you get me some tape?
ME: Oh, honey, I really don't want you taping things to the window.
MADELEINE: But I *need* to hang this!
ME: What is it?
MADELEINE: Okay. So Mommy. Me and Julia are gonna have jobs. We're gonna make picture books and Julia's gonna write them and I'm gonna illustrate them.
ME: Okay. Why do you need to hang this?
MADELEINE: Because Mommy! How else would people know to ORDER them?
ME: Well, you should probably have some books made first before you advertise.
MADELEINE: No! Mommy! We need to start RIGHT AWAY! Because I really really want to have a job when I'm a kid!
ME: Why?
MADELEINE: Because. It would just be so much more FUN to have a job.
ME: It's really not that fun to have a job.
MADELEINE: But Mommy! I want to have a job when I'm a KID!
ME: Kids don't really need jobs though.
MADELEINE: Albert Einstein had a job when he was a kid!!
So we hung her poster after all, using suction cups and hole-punching the paper to hang from the suction cups hooks. Now Silly Sisters can truly begin!
Unfortunately, Julia is not a willing participant in this endeavor.
JULIA: Madeleine. I don't WANT to write books with you.
MADELEINE: Julia, PLEASE??
JULIA: Why don't you just write them yourself?
MADELEINE: No! I can't! I'm not GOOD at writing! Besides, writing is so BORING!
JULIA: But Madeleine. The books I write AREN'T picture books.
MADELEINE: Julia, I *only* like making the pictures!
JULIA: But Madeleine! I don't MAKE picture books. My books never have any pictures in them!
I tried to subtly intervene.
ME: Julia, maybe you can just write a short story or something and Madeleine can come up with the illustrations. Like a children's book.
MADELEINE: No, Mommy! If Julia writes all the words first, then it's like she's the BOSS of me and I *have* to make the pictures SHE wants!
ME: Honey, that's how books work. The story comes first, then the pictures.
MADELEINE: No, but I want to make the pictures that I come up with!
ME: Then make a book with only pictures and no words.
MADELEINE: No, those kids of books are DOPEY.
ME: Then write the words that go with your pictures yourself.
MADELEINE: I *can't.* My writing is all FUNKY.
ME: What do you mean?
MADELEINE: (scampering off to her room) I'll SHOW you.
Madeleine them emerged with some random pages of classwork and pointed out her hand-writing.
MADELEINE: See? Look! Look at how BAD I am at writing these letters.
So it turns out she wants Julia for her hand-writing skills, not her story-telling prowess. No wonder Madeleine thinks the writing part is boring. Nobody prefers to hand-write things over typing or, better yet, dictating what you want and having your sister hand-write it out.
Julia has other projects in mind; namely, the formation of an American Girl band and chorus! She even used her own Honors Chorus program as a model to create a program for her dolls:
I'm impressed. Every single doll that she and Madeleine own are in the band AND chorus. I never knew they had such musical dolls. And I'm double impressed by the fact that child prodigy Baby Lily plays the trumpet AND the violin, as well as sings in the chorus!
And here I thought *my* girls were accomplished by starting a book-creation business as kids.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
100th Day!
Today is the 100th Day of School for the girls, and Madeleine's class had a 100th Day party. I went to help out, and wound up at the puzzle station with Madeleine. Determined to put together a 100-piece puzzle, she spent the entire hour there, and although we didn't get it completed, we came pretty darn close. Madeleine's class also got a packet with coloring pages, a word search, a secret code to decipher, and a questionnaire, all revolving around the 100 Day theme.
Here is the questionnaire and Madeleine's answers:
I have 100 stickers
(That's true. She does. I bought them for her to bring in for her 100 project; students needed to display 100 of any item of their choosing. You can see I went the lazy route and just bought some packs of stickers.)
I would like 100 socks
(Really? Of all the things in the world she could wish to have 100 of, it's socks!?!)
I wouldn't like 100 zeukeeny's.
(Madeleine definitely despises zucchini, so that's a farily valid answer. I'm pretty sure Julia's response, in 1st grade, was asparagus. Poor kids, with their parents torturing them with disgusting vegetables.)
Having 100 papers could really be a problem because one hundred is a realy small numbr.
(Given the amount of printer paper the kids BOTH use up with their artwork and home-made books, I can see how 100 would not be NEARLY enough for Madeleine.)
I can lift 100 books.
(She can? All at once? Kinda doubt it.)
If I had 100 dollars I would by something realy speitel.
(She could buy herself some socks and papers with her $100. That would be super speitel.)
Madeleine's illustration inside her 100th Day Packet is something pretty speitel, too:
Aww! It's a group of happy, smiley girls jumping up in celebratory revelry!
Sucks to be the poor bloody-faced girl who is being trampled by all their jumping feet, though.
Happy 100th Day to Julia and Madeleine!
Here is the questionnaire and Madeleine's answers:
I have 100 stickers
(That's true. She does. I bought them for her to bring in for her 100 project; students needed to display 100 of any item of their choosing. You can see I went the lazy route and just bought some packs of stickers.)
I would like 100 socks
(Really? Of all the things in the world she could wish to have 100 of, it's socks!?!)
I wouldn't like 100 zeukeeny's.
(Madeleine definitely despises zucchini, so that's a farily valid answer. I'm pretty sure Julia's response, in 1st grade, was asparagus. Poor kids, with their parents torturing them with disgusting vegetables.)
Having 100 papers could really be a problem because one hundred is a realy small numbr.
(Given the amount of printer paper the kids BOTH use up with their artwork and home-made books, I can see how 100 would not be NEARLY enough for Madeleine.)
I can lift 100 books.
(She can? All at once? Kinda doubt it.)
If I had 100 dollars I would by something realy speitel.
(She could buy herself some socks and papers with her $100. That would be super speitel.)
Madeleine's illustration inside her 100th Day Packet is something pretty speitel, too:
Aww! It's a group of happy, smiley girls jumping up in celebratory revelry!
Sucks to be the poor bloody-faced girl who is being trampled by all their jumping feet, though.
Happy 100th Day to Julia and Madeleine!
Monday, February 6, 2017
More Conversations with Madeleine
Some conversations with Madeleine this week:
On the topic of the book she is reading ("Who Was Albert Einstein"):
MADELEINE: Mommy? In this book, there's a lot about war? And a lot about people leaving places because of war.
ME: That's right, because World War Two was going on when Einstein was alive, right?
MADELEINE: Uh...it was World War Eye-Eye.
Oh, right. Not to be confused with the previous war, World War Eye.
Madeleine had more to say on her Albert Einstein book, unrelated to World War Eye-Eye.
MADELEINE: I think Albert Einstein was alive at the time before the DIME was being made.
ME: You do?
MADELEINE: Yeah, because...Albert Einstein lived in America...lived in Massachusetts...lived in America when...uh...it's like, F-E-R or something...when the guy who's on the dime was President.
ME: Franklin Roosevelt?
MADELEINE: Oh, yes! Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR.
Apparently in Madeleine's brain the dime simply didn't exist before the version with FDR on it was minted. There simply was no coin of ten cent value until the 1940s.
On the topic of driving:
MADELEINE: Mommy? I *want* to learn to drive a car when I'm a teenager, but...(voice dropping in dismay) I *really* don't wanna go to driving school. It seems like it would be really BORING, and...it even LOOKS boring.
ME: It's really not boring. It's pretty exciting, because you get the chance to actually drive, with an instructor sitting right next to you.
MADELEINE: Yeah! I know. But...it seems like it's just pretty EASY. You just press on the GAS.
Yeah! That's it! She's ready to drive, folks, at the young age of 7. She, in her ingenuity, figured out the entire secret to driving a car: you just press on the gas.
On the topic of the most recent performance of a quartet Ethan and I sing in:
ME: Madeleine, do you know which one of us sings the very lowest notes?
MADELEINE: Uh, the guy that looks like Dumbledore or Santa?
ME: Do you know his name?
MADELEINE: Noooo.
ME: Do you know who sings the very highest notes?
MADELEINE: Uh, the ones who look like Grandmas?
ME: No, I sing the high notes!
You can see how much she pays attention, especially since she presumably hears me practice the high stuff at home. Or maybe she's trying to tell me I'm looking really old lately and I'm one of the Grandmas.
At any rate, here is our quartet, in Madeleine's view:
From the left: Dumbledore or Santa, Mommy, Grandma, and Daddy. We occasionally have guest performers join us, including the other Grandma, not featured in the above photo.
Man, I'm telling you, with the thoughts that whirl through Madeleine's head: this kid is GOING PLACES.
On the topic of the book she is reading ("Who Was Albert Einstein"):
MADELEINE: Mommy? In this book, there's a lot about war? And a lot about people leaving places because of war.
ME: That's right, because World War Two was going on when Einstein was alive, right?
MADELEINE: Uh...it was World War Eye-Eye.
Oh, right. Not to be confused with the previous war, World War Eye.
Madeleine had more to say on her Albert Einstein book, unrelated to World War Eye-Eye.
MADELEINE: I think Albert Einstein was alive at the time before the DIME was being made.
ME: You do?
MADELEINE: Yeah, because...Albert Einstein lived in America...lived in Massachusetts...lived in America when...uh...it's like, F-E-R or something...when the guy who's on the dime was President.
ME: Franklin Roosevelt?
MADELEINE: Oh, yes! Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR.
Apparently in Madeleine's brain the dime simply didn't exist before the version with FDR on it was minted. There simply was no coin of ten cent value until the 1940s.
On the topic of driving:
MADELEINE: Mommy? I *want* to learn to drive a car when I'm a teenager, but...(voice dropping in dismay) I *really* don't wanna go to driving school. It seems like it would be really BORING, and...it even LOOKS boring.
ME: It's really not boring. It's pretty exciting, because you get the chance to actually drive, with an instructor sitting right next to you.
MADELEINE: Yeah! I know. But...it seems like it's just pretty EASY. You just press on the GAS.
Yeah! That's it! She's ready to drive, folks, at the young age of 7. She, in her ingenuity, figured out the entire secret to driving a car: you just press on the gas.
On the topic of the most recent performance of a quartet Ethan and I sing in:
ME: Madeleine, do you know which one of us sings the very lowest notes?
MADELEINE: Uh, the guy that looks like Dumbledore or Santa?
ME: Do you know his name?
MADELEINE: Noooo.
ME: Do you know who sings the very highest notes?
MADELEINE: Uh, the ones who look like Grandmas?
ME: No, I sing the high notes!
You can see how much she pays attention, especially since she presumably hears me practice the high stuff at home. Or maybe she's trying to tell me I'm looking really old lately and I'm one of the Grandmas.
At any rate, here is our quartet, in Madeleine's view:
Man, I'm telling you, with the thoughts that whirl through Madeleine's head: this kid is GOING PLACES.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Magic After School
Upon school dismissal today, Madeleine ran out the school doors with both pant legs rolled up to her knees, stripped off her coat, tossed it and her backpack to me, and ran off to play.
ME: Do you want me to take your school folder for you?
MADELEINE: (clutching her folder) Uh, no, can I play with it for a little while? I'm pretending it's my MAGIC folder!
So Madeleine ran around the playground with a friend, holding tight to her folder, while Julia went on the swings. After about 15 minutes, Julia was ready to head home. I called to Madeleine, who began very slowly making her way to follow us.
As we reached the paved woodland path that leads to the road, I turned back to make sure Madeleine was with us. I saw her a few steps behind me, laboriously hefting a snow-covered boulder in her arms.
ME: Okay, honey, put the rock down because we're almost to the road.
MADELEINE: But it's my MAGIC rock!
ME: Well, your magic rock needs to stay here at school.
MADELEINE: No! But I want to take it home! It's SPECIAL!
ME: Honey, we have plenty of rocks at our house.
MADELEINE: But this one is my magic rock!
ME: But it belongs at school.
MADELEINE: Please Mommy?? Please?
ME: No. Put it down, please. It's too big to take home.
MADELEINE: (heart-brokenly putting the rock on the side of the path)
It wasn't long before I heard her voice piping up behind me
MADELEINE: How about a magic SWORD??
I turned around to see her holding a fallen tree branch taller than her own body.
ME: No, put that down. You already have a bunch of sticks at home.
MADELEINE: But it's my magic sword!
ME: Nope.
She caught up to me, without her magic sword, in time to cross the street together. I was still carrying her backpack and her coat, so when she complained of getting a little chilly, I encouraged her to put the coat back on.
MADELEINE: Uh, no, that's okay...
ME: Honey, let's just put it on.
MADELEINE: (cradling a dried out oak leaf in her hand) But I don't wanna crush my magic LEAF!
ME: I'll hold your leaf.
MADELEINE: But it's a CHALLENGE to get home with no coat!
ME: Let's not do challenges that are not actually good for you.
I put her coat on and she made it home with her magic leaf intact. I can totally see why it's magical and not a crumbling old dead oak leaf or anything:
At least I avoided having a boulder and a tree branch in my house, though.
ME: Do you want me to take your school folder for you?
MADELEINE: (clutching her folder) Uh, no, can I play with it for a little while? I'm pretending it's my MAGIC folder!
So Madeleine ran around the playground with a friend, holding tight to her folder, while Julia went on the swings. After about 15 minutes, Julia was ready to head home. I called to Madeleine, who began very slowly making her way to follow us.
As we reached the paved woodland path that leads to the road, I turned back to make sure Madeleine was with us. I saw her a few steps behind me, laboriously hefting a snow-covered boulder in her arms.
ME: Okay, honey, put the rock down because we're almost to the road.
MADELEINE: But it's my MAGIC rock!
ME: Well, your magic rock needs to stay here at school.
MADELEINE: No! But I want to take it home! It's SPECIAL!
ME: Honey, we have plenty of rocks at our house.
MADELEINE: But this one is my magic rock!
ME: But it belongs at school.
MADELEINE: Please Mommy?? Please?
ME: No. Put it down, please. It's too big to take home.
MADELEINE: (heart-brokenly putting the rock on the side of the path)
It wasn't long before I heard her voice piping up behind me
MADELEINE: How about a magic SWORD??
I turned around to see her holding a fallen tree branch taller than her own body.
ME: No, put that down. You already have a bunch of sticks at home.
MADELEINE: But it's my magic sword!
ME: Nope.
She caught up to me, without her magic sword, in time to cross the street together. I was still carrying her backpack and her coat, so when she complained of getting a little chilly, I encouraged her to put the coat back on.
MADELEINE: Uh, no, that's okay...
ME: Honey, let's just put it on.
MADELEINE: (cradling a dried out oak leaf in her hand) But I don't wanna crush my magic LEAF!
ME: I'll hold your leaf.
MADELEINE: But it's a CHALLENGE to get home with no coat!
ME: Let's not do challenges that are not actually good for you.
I put her coat on and she made it home with her magic leaf intact. I can totally see why it's magical and not a crumbling old dead oak leaf or anything:
At least I avoided having a boulder and a tree branch in my house, though.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
More Trump Talk
Yet another dinner time Donald Trump discussion:
JULIA: I hope Donald Trump does something really stupid to get himself impeached.
ME: Me too.
MADELEINE: Yeah! I hope he...like...forgets to bring his PEANUT BUTTER to everyone or something.
ME: You hope he what?!?
MADELEINE: Forgets to bring his peanut butter to everyone.
ME: What does that have to do with anything?
MADELEINE: Like, if, he's like: (raising her right hand) I promise to bring peanut butter to every single person.
ME: And then he breaks his promise?
MADELEINE: Yeah. (thoughtful) I hope he doesn't bring it to the people in my class that are allergic, though.
Wow. Does Madeleine have a solid idea of what a president's duties are, or what?!?
It seems impossible to avoid hearing about Donald Trump lately. The topic came up again in the car on our way home from Julia's swim practice, as she overheard discussion of Trump on NPR. The radio host was talking about Trump's disregard for established precedent thus far in his first weeks in office.
JULIA: Mommy? Do some people, like, pronounce "president" like "press-a-dent?"
I then launched into an explanation of what the word "precedent" means, but Julia's thoughts turned back to her dream of impeaching Donald Trump.
JULIA: Mommy? I feel like, if Donald Trump ever got impeached, he would be, like, super, duper, DUPER mad.
ME: I'm sure he would.
JULIA: Like, RAGING.
ME: I bet he would be.
JULIA: But Mommy? Why is it called "impeached?"
ME: I don't really know. I don't know the root behind the word.
JULIA: It shouldn't be called "impeached." That sounds weird. It sounds like you're in a PEACH.
Maybe that's the secret behind it. Maybe, like in "James and the Giant Peach," a president who is impeached and convicted is put inside a giant peach and rolled out to sea, never to return to office again. I think Trump would enjoy that, because he'd get to be inside a GREAT peach. The biggest peach! You know, maybe he wouldn't be so super duper duper raging mad after all, because he'd get to continue doing something unprecedentedly presidential!
JULIA: I hope Donald Trump does something really stupid to get himself impeached.
ME: Me too.
MADELEINE: Yeah! I hope he...like...forgets to bring his PEANUT BUTTER to everyone or something.
ME: You hope he what?!?
MADELEINE: Forgets to bring his peanut butter to everyone.
ME: What does that have to do with anything?
MADELEINE: Like, if, he's like: (raising her right hand) I promise to bring peanut butter to every single person.
ME: And then he breaks his promise?
MADELEINE: Yeah. (thoughtful) I hope he doesn't bring it to the people in my class that are allergic, though.
Wow. Does Madeleine have a solid idea of what a president's duties are, or what?!?
It seems impossible to avoid hearing about Donald Trump lately. The topic came up again in the car on our way home from Julia's swim practice, as she overheard discussion of Trump on NPR. The radio host was talking about Trump's disregard for established precedent thus far in his first weeks in office.
JULIA: Mommy? Do some people, like, pronounce "president" like "press-a-dent?"
I then launched into an explanation of what the word "precedent" means, but Julia's thoughts turned back to her dream of impeaching Donald Trump.
JULIA: Mommy? I feel like, if Donald Trump ever got impeached, he would be, like, super, duper, DUPER mad.
ME: I'm sure he would.
JULIA: Like, RAGING.
ME: I bet he would be.
JULIA: But Mommy? Why is it called "impeached?"
ME: I don't really know. I don't know the root behind the word.
JULIA: It shouldn't be called "impeached." That sounds weird. It sounds like you're in a PEACH.
Maybe that's the secret behind it. Maybe, like in "James and the Giant Peach," a president who is impeached and convicted is put inside a giant peach and rolled out to sea, never to return to office again. I think Trump would enjoy that, because he'd get to be inside a GREAT peach. The biggest peach! You know, maybe he wouldn't be so super duper duper raging mad after all, because he'd get to continue doing something unprecedentedly presidential!
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