Busy Days

It has been a very busy few days for the Rowes.  Backing up to Valentine's Day, Madeleine got to celebrate the day by getting allergy testing done at an ENT office.

ME: (pulling the car into a parking spot)
MADELEINE: Parking for "ent" only.  Mommy?  This is only for ent.
ME: E-N-T.  Ear Nose Throat.  That's the doctor we're going to see.
MADELEINE: Ohhhh!  NOW that makes sense!

I can not believe what a trooper Madeleine was throughout the whole ordeal.  The doctor forewarned her that things were likely to get itchy, but that she needed to fight the urge to scratch.

MADELEINE: (brightly) Yeah!  I already practiced SITTING ON MY HANDS.

Turns out she wasn't able to sit on her hands, as her inner arms were the place where the allergy pricks had been done:

Nonetheless, she did a commendable job of keeping still and not giving her arms even the tiniest of scratches, even though she had a few rising welts that caused some intense itching:

The long and the short of it is that Madeleine tested positive for allergies to birch, maple, and oak pollen, as well as to almost every kind of grass.  Things are suddenly making sense to me.  For the past year, Madeleine has complained that apples make her throat itchy.  I thought she was just being her usual picky self about eating fruit, but the doctor informed me that a birch allergy is often associated with an allergic reaction to apples (among other fruits and nuts.)  Furthermore, I now understand why, when Madeleine and her cousins were rolling down the grassy hill in Vermont this past July, Madeleine's legs broke out in red bumps. 

So, we will begin allergy treatments next month, but for the time being, she was given a Claritin, a prescription for an EpiPen, and sent off on her merry way.  Madeleine was SO excited about her allergy news.

MADELEINE: I can't WAIT to go to school tomorrow and tell everyone about my allergies!  And everyone's gonna be like, "Can I see your EpiPen?  What does it look like?"  Mommy, when is Julia getting home from choir?  I can't WAIT to tell her about this!

True to her word, Madeleine spread the news gleefully, not just to Julia, but to her teammates at swim practice that evening.  She burst into the locker room ready to shout from the rooftops.

MADELEINE: Who wants to see my BUMPIES??? (holding out her bump-laden arms for all to see)

Yeah.  She's not leprous or anything, guys.  Sorry for the gruesome sight.  Just a little allergy testing.

Poor Madeleine did not get the chance to tell her classmates about her allergies, because in the middle of the night, she came down with a stomach bug.  The poor kid vomited eight times between 1:30am and 10am.  Then she spent the rest of the day Friday on the couch with a fever and chills.

Luckily, it was a short lived bug, so by Saturday the fever and vomiting were gone.  Madeleine didn't have much of an appetite, but was able to get a small amount into her stomach.  She and Julia took it easy for most of the day, resting up for Sunday's swim meet.

Sunday was an all-day affair, with kids 10 and under swimming in the morning session, and 11 and up swimming in the afternoon.  Because Ethan had church choir in the morning, I was solo parenting with the girls at the meet.  I was also one of the official timers for the meet, so I wasn't able to sit in the bleachers with Julia.  But at least I got to check in with Madeleine, who looked shaky and frail after her days of not eating and being so sick.  She managed to swim all her events, albeit slower than normal, but at least she was able to take part in what was, for her, the last meet of the season. 

When Madeleine's last event was over, I asked Julia to take her to the locker room to shower and get into dry warm clothes, since I was still timing the remainder of the meet.  Julia got her taste of being a swim parent in the chaos of the locker room dash.

JULIA: (coming out from the locker room after the meet)
ME: Is Madeleine showering? 
JULIA: Yes.
ME: Okay.  Can you sit with all our stuff while I go check on her?
JULIA: Okay but then can EVERYONE STOP BOSSING ME AROUND?!?
ME: Uh...
JULIA: (with sheer overwhelmed irritation) The locker room is a ZOO.

Sheesh.  She must have had a traumatic experience in there or something.  I wonder who the heck was bossing her around.  Madeleine?? 

At any rate, we managed to hang out and laugh and enjoy ourselves during the hour break between meets:

Ethan showed up for the 11 and up meet, joining Madeleine and I in the bleachers.  Julia swam well in the afternoon, getting a personal best in one event, and winning two others, therefore earning a cookie (this meet is called the "Cookie Classic," because the awards are cookies rather than ribbons or medals.)  And because Madeleine hadn't been able to win any of her events due to her fatigued state, Julia winning two was perfect because then she could share with her sister.  Good stuff all around! 

And now we have a school vacation week to all take a rest and fully recover from the crazy daily grind.  At least now if anyone else comes down with the stomach bug, we don't have to miss out on any important school or sports events!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I gave my little Valentines goody bags when we all got up this morning:

Madeleine gave me a gift as well:

She made it herself.  It's to tuck behind my ear.  Madeleine tried it out so she knows it works.


Julia got nothing for any of us.

JULIA: I totally forgot about Valentine's Day, so I don't have presents for anyone!

I assured her that it doesn't matter, because really I just like to treat my three Valentines on this day. 

Inside the girls' bags were: a book (for Julia: the next book in a fantasy series she has been reading, and for Madeleine: a biography of Ruth Bader Ginsberg), turquoise earrings, new bathing suits, and lots of candy.  Madeleine got to reading her RBG book right away.

MADELEINE: Hey, Mommy!  I think this is one of Clara's nicknames in my book!  "A-cloo!"

(Clara, Auntie Shannon's teacup chihuahua, has about a million nicknames.  What once began as Clary-cloo morphed into all sorts of variations, from Clooey to Cloo-cloo to, at least according to Madeleine, A-cloo.)

ME: Oh, yeah?
MADELEINE: Yeah.  Except...I think it would be A-sloo, because "Civil" starts with a-
ME: Oh.  Oh.  ACLU.  It's pronounced by saying all the letters.

Madeleine even brought her RBG book to school today to read during the class Non-Fiction reading time, and was so inspired by it that she wrote about RBG for her Non-Fiction writing project.  I guess I hit the jackpot with that gift!

Our after school time has been less Valentine-y, with Madeleine going to an allergist appointment after school, Julia going to choir rehearsal, and both kids having swim later this afternoon.  Madeleine was kind of incredulous about there being swim on a "holiday."

MADELEINE: Wait.  Mommy?  Do we even HAVE swim on Valentine's Day?
ME: Yeah, you still have it.
MADELEINE: Okay.  I asked Coach Bob and he said we had it, but I wanted to check with you and make SURE.

Yeah, you don't cancel things for Valentine's Day, honey.  It's kind of minor league when it comes to holidays.

Regardless of our busy afternoon, we will get to have one final celebration before bed, since I made and frosted heart sugar cookies for dessert.  At least we get to start and end the day in a Valentiney way!

Splashings

Madeleine has been super into these "Splashings" lately; a mermaid, some sea creatures, and a bunch of shells.  She can literally entertain herself for an entire afternoon enacting scenes with them.  She launched into another scenario after dinner:




I know you're all cursing me for cutting the video off where I did instead of letting you view the ENTIRE...what's it called again?...oh, yeah: runway show. 

Dreams

Madeleine and I discussed dream tropes this morning, as she had just awoken from her first "I failed my test" dream.

MADELEINE:  Mommy!  I had a SCARY dream.
ME: Uh-oh!  What was it?
MADELEINE: So, we were going to do this fractions math test, and then I barely even finished HALF of it.  And it went really quickly, but it was supposed to be forty-five minutes. And there were these stations with fractions that you could do with partners, and I didn't KNOW that, so it was really scary. 
ME: Ugh, I hate dreams like that.  I have dreams that I failed a test all the time.
MADELEINE:  Yeah.  And then I was really upset, so I went over to Mrs. Slotnik, and she asked me really weird questions, such as: "What's my NAME?"  "Can you brush my HAIR?"
ME: That is weird.
MADELEINE:  Yeah.  Mommy?  The kind of dream I really hate is falling dreams.  They're so STARTLING. 
ME: Me too!  I have falling dreams a lot!
MADELEINE: And Mommy, when I have falling dreams, I *used* to always wake up BEFORE I hit the ground.  NOW I hit the ground.
ME: Really?  I've never hit the ground!  I always wake up just as I'm about to hit the ground.
MADELEINE: Mommy.  I think that when I hit the ground in my dream, I bet I, like, do THIS (writhing her body) in my BED!
ME: You probably do!

I guess Madeleine and I have some similarities when it comes to recurring dream themes.  Although I have never dreamed that my teacher asked me really weird questions, such as: "What's my name" and "Can you brush my hair?"

Julia's Workout

Those of you who know Julia, either in person or from reading about her on the blog, know that she's a fierce swimmer.  However, there is one form of exercise that she has been practicing for even longer than that of swimming:




(Despite her reaction to realizing she was on video, she has given me permission to post the above video.)


Now, Julia's galloping has evolved over time.  Once performed in silence, Julia now opts to gallop to what she refers to as "my songs."  As in:

ME: Should you practice your flute today?
JULIA: Yeah, but first I'm gonna gallop to my songs.


The play list includes various favorite energizing songs of Julia's.  It's not clear whether these are also favorites of Lilly Mintz, but my guess would be that like in all other things, she and Julia are aligned in music preferences. 

In case you would like to take up this form of exercise, here is the playlist:

(In no particular order)

-Take On Me by a-ha
-YMCA by The Village People
-Shark in the Water by V.V. Brown
-Free Fallin' by Tom Petty
-My House by Flo Rida
-Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon
-Paper Planes by M.I.A.
-No by Meghan Trainor


The steps for this exercise regime are as follows:

Get your play list going, whether using Google Home Assistant/Google Play, Siri, Alexa, your computer, or an old-fashioned CD player.

Once the music starts, begin galloping back and forth, the entire length of one floor of your house.  Touch the walls at each far length of your gallop lap with one or both hands, then turn and change directions.  Continue until the last song has played.  Optional: ask Google Home Assistant to play an especially beloved song multiple times in a row, as desired.

If you feel the need for additional Gallop Time, the following songs may be added to the play list:

-Sit Still, Look Pretty by Daya
-Renegades by X Ambassador
-The Sign by Ace of Base
-All Star by Smashmouth


Happy Galloping!

Math Quiz

So, Madeleine's a pretty smart kid, and she did pretty well on her math quiz:

However, it appears that at school, and not only just at home, sometimes her brain completely turns off.

Here's the one problem she got wrong:

Um.  Close.

Cereal Box Back

Madeleine labeled the people on the back of the Life Cereal box:

I guess Auntie Caitlyn's dog Ollie has decided to join the Rowe family on our vacation.  Also, rather than enjoying the alone time with Mommy, Daddy and Ollie, Madeleine decided to draw in Julia (see faint pen figure sticking her head out of the right passenger window.)

Aww, even in a pretend cereal box Mad Libs trip to Hawaii, Madeleine wouldn't leave her sister behind!