Sleepover Party!

Julia is at her first ever birthday sleepover party right now, and she couldn't have been more excited about it.  Not only is the birthday girl Julia's closest friend from school, but the party is American Girl-themed.  The kids were all instructed to dress as their favorite American Girl.

After careful consideration, Julia decided that dressing as her FAVORITE favorite American Girl (Josefina, who is Hispanic) posed too much of a challenge to be realistic, so she went a different route.  (And, really, any route is a safe one because Julia loves ALL of the American Girl characters.)

Since Julia ardery emulates 1940's fashion (she wears knee socks on Wednesdays!), she decided to go to the party as Molly McIntyre.

What do you think?  Did she pull off the look?

Now, the real question on my mind is: will Julia actually sleep?  I know she doesn't intend to sleep much; part of her excitement over the sleepover is to stay up late talking with her friends.  But as the mom of a 7-year-old who kind of falls apart when she's tired, I sure *hope* she and her friends just happen to conk out mid-conversation.

Speaking of, the whole idea of staying up late and chatting is an experience Julia deeply yearns for.  She has been begging for a night upon which she can engage in the above with Auntie Shannon.

It has come up multiple times.

JULIA: Mom?  Tonight can I stay up late and chat with Auntie Shannon?
ME: No, honey, you have school tomorrow.
JULIA: But when CAN I stay up late and chat with Auntie Shannon?
ME: How about on a weekend.

Later

JULIA: Mom?  What weekend CAN I stay up late and chat with Auntie Shannon?
ME: I don't know, maybe after school is over.

Later

JULIA: Auntie Shannon?  When should we stay up late and CHAT?
AUNTIE SHANNON: Uh...we'll, let's see...
JULIA: Next weekend?  Or the weekend AFTER?

The date has been all planned out.  It is seriously on Julia's calendar in her room:

I guess tonight will be a trial run for the future "Stay up late and chatt" date.  All I can say is that I hope my little Molly McIntyre gets at least a somewhat decent night's rest!

Preschool Ends For the Year

Today was Madeleine's last day of school for the year, and she went to class sporting her unique high fashion looks:

Truly, a graduate of the Teddy Bear class and soon-to-be member of the Dinosaur class needs this fierce fashion edge.  A plastic race medal combined with a Hawaiian lei?  That's a fashion risk worth taking!  Work it, girl!

Now that Madeleine is another year more pre-schooled, she is definitely showing her gained wisdom.  Here are some of the conversations we had today:



MADELEINE: (in the car, en route to school, singing) We're going to Maaadeleine's school, we're going to Maaaadeleine's school, we're going to Maaaaaaadeleine's school.  (pausing to yawn)  Whew!  FINALLY.  I got my yawn out.  I was waiting and WAITING to get my yawn out but I was just too EMBARRASSED from all my SINGING.


Then, a few moments further along in our car ride, she remarked upon the weather.

MADELEINE: Hey!  These clouds are the same ones as in VERMONT!  Yeah, from when me and that other girl were riding in the blue boat and going SUPER fast.

And by "that other girl," she would mean cousin Fiona.  And by Vermont, she would mean Cape Cod.

Madeleine and that other girl on the blue boat in Vermont.


Now, if you are amazed by her observational skills already, just WAIT until you hear what she had to say about ME once we were back at home after school.


MADELEINE: Mama.  Your nose is ORANGE!
ME: It is??
MADELEINE: Yes!  Go look at it!
ME: Okay (going to look in the mirror.)  It doesn't look orange to me.
MADELEINE: (coming up close to me) From far away, it looks orange.  But up close, it goes back to its ORIGINAL color.

Woah.  That is MIND-BLOWING.  I had no idea I have an orange nose from far away.  I guess I must be part snowman.

Finally, on our way home from picking up Julia this afternoon, Madeleine had yet more keen observational insights.

MADELEINE: What on EARTH is that smell?
ME: What smell? I  don't notice it.
MADELEINE: It smells like...VERMONT.
ME: It does?
MADELEINE:  Yeah.  But it smells kind of yucky.  It smells all...CONTRAPTION-Y.  And a little bit like garbage.
ME: Vermont smells contraption-y and garbage-y?
MADELEINE: Well, in the GARAGE it does.  In the garage that's in the FOREST down by the lake.

Apparently that would be the dockhouse where the life jackets and such are kept.  I wonder if contraption-y means gasoline-y.  There were lawn mowers in a yard near where we were walking.  Perhaps the smell reminded Madeleine of the smell of the beloved "Julia" motorboat?  I guess I'd have to check with that other girl in the blue boat in Vermont to see if that's accurate.

At any rate, tonight is Madeleine's school party, so she'll get to gallivant with her friends one last time before she is officially on summer vacation.  And in on weeks' time, the Rowe household will contain one Dinosaur and one second-grader.  Crazy!  Thinking about that is enough to turn my nose back to its original color.

How to Play the Piano

As summer vacation draws close, Julia has been coming home with classroom projects from throughout the school year.  Today I finally got to receive her "How To" book, in which she wrote about a topic of her expertise. 

How to Play the Piano
by Julia Rowe

(I like that she included our flimsy halogen lamp, which we keep to the left of our piano just like in the illustration.)

Step 1: Note's
"I play the piano.  Thar are sevan note's on the piano.  They are ABCDEF and G."

There are actually 12 notes on the piano, if you include the sharps/flats, but I appreciate her attempt to not overwhelm the novice piano student by even getting into that.  Let's just start with the white keys, of which there are indeed sevan.

Step 2: Sheet Music
"First you need a sheet of music.  You need to have a piano to."

Sorry, all you would-be musicians who dreamed of playing air-piano.  The expert has spoken.  You need to have a piano to.

Step 3: Sharps
"You need to know were the note's are.  You can tell were C is by two sharps."

I guess in Julia's version of the piano the sharps stick up like miniature little toothpicks - or bristles on a brush - from the GINORMOUS white keys. I think   her version definitely makes it easier to find C.  I mean, on a regular piano, there is certainly not just one honking humongous white key to every two or three black keys.  You have to identify which one of the white keys amidst the two sharps is the note "C."  Maybe future piano makers should adopt Julia's model, however, because it would make it a lot easier for beginning students to find the correct white key when there is really only ONE option.

Step 4: Were Note's Are
"But you don't need to know were just C is.  You need to know were all the note's are."

Ah, good advice.  After the previous page, I was thinking that all I had to do was find the two sharps and then I'd see my gargantuan-sized middle C.  I guess it's more complicated than that. 


Step 5: How Note's Go
"This is how note's go.  A B C D E F G.  A piano dos not have all the letter.  But it has 7."

This is all true.  It dos not have a letter H.  Or any letters after H.  Good point, Julia.

Step 6: Piano Day
"You need to have a piano techer.  And a day you play piano to."

I would say you need more than a day to play piano.  But I get it.  You need one scheduled lesson day with your piano techer.  Now, many piano students MIGHT feel that playing at the lesson counts enough for the week.  But I might interject here that practicing IN BETWEEN lesson days is just as (if not MORE) important than playing on your lesson day.

Step 7: Possishon's
"You can play in diff'rant possishon's.  Some song's are hard and some are esy."

I would say start with the esy song's first.  The ones in the esy possishon's.  Like C Possishon;  remember, you can find C by finding the gigantic white key with two sharps sticking up from it!

 Step 8: Resitall
"And then you can have a resitall.  YOU ARE A GOOD PIANO PLAYER!"

I am??  Wow, this is easier than I thought!  The subtitle of this book should be: "How to become a good piano player in eight simple steps."  I guess my career is in trouble now, though.  Who needs to hire a piano teacher if you can just read this book, follow the steps, and by the end YOU ARE A GOOD PIANO PLAYER!?


Of course, there is an About the Author on the back cover, so we get to learn a little more about Julia Rowe, Pianist:

About the Author
"My name is Julia.  I love to play the piano. I hope this book will help you lern how to play piano. I also love to rite story's.  I hope you like my book."


I do like it, Julia!  Thanks for sharing your expertise!  And as YOUR piano teacher, I have something to tell you: YOU ARE A GOOD PIANO PLAYER!

Ju-Sa-Lil: 2nd Edition

Because Julia starts writing new books before she has even finished her old ones, and because she writes SO MANY of them, she frequently loses track of the books she has already started on.  She recently discovered that she had no idea where her masterpiece creation, "Meet Ju-Sa-Lil," had gone to.  Instead of conducting a thorough search, Julia simply decided to start over and re-write it.

The second edition of "Meet Ju-Sa-Lil" is similar only in that it still features Ju-Sa-Lil and her family living inside the Earth, with other plot points being completely altered.  (I'm guessing what with all the other books Julia has written in between, she couldn't actually remember what had happened in her first edition of "Ju-Sa-Lil."  In this new copy, Ju-Sa-Lil ventures outside of the inside of the Earth and befriends Citey, who is human.  Or, as the Inside-Earth people call them, "umins." 

And speaking of Inside-Earth speech:

Chapter 2: GOING TO SCHOOL
"The next day, Ju-Sa-Lil met Citey's sister Alona.  'Sophie's our shiter to,' said Alona.  She was two years ol.  'Isn't Sophie with Tala?"

I'm hoping that Julia simply misspelled "sister," rather than "shiter" being the futuristic term for "sister."

Throughout the course of this book, Ju-Sa-Lil accompanies Citey to school in the "Umin" world, only to discover that attending school is poisonous to Inside-Earth folk.  The tell-tale sign is a poisonous blue mark on Ju-Sa-Lil's hand, and her discovery causes her to have a HUGE fight with Citey, as Ju-Sa-Lil blames Citey for the poisoning. 

Not to worry, however; the book doesn't end before the best friends make up once again.  I have a feeling Julia started getting tired of writing this book, because the whole make-up and resolution to the conflict is awfully abrupt.

The final passage of the book is as follows:

"Later that day Ju-Sa-Lil went to tell Citey something.  'Citey,' she said.  'I can't go to school with you becuse I'll get poisend.  That's just the way things work.'  'And that's the way things work with best friends."

Awwww.  What a sweet ending.  BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!

Julia finished this second version of "Meet Ju-Sa-Lil" this morning, and quickly began work on the next book in the series, "Ju-Sa-Lil Learns a Lesson."  All she was able to complete before school was the Table of Contents, but let me assure you that the chapter titles look reeeeally promising:

Table Of Contenc

1. The Worth Fighting Over Doll
2. Family Love
3. Making Ornimints
4. More Then Someone Could Ask For


I don't know about you, but I'm *particularly* excited to read "The Worth Fighting Over Doll!"


Madeleine has not lost track of any of her books, but she DID talk to me about something that she can no longer find.

MADELEINE: Mama?  My leg HURTS right here.
ME: Is there a bug bite there?
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  There WAS a bug bite that I got BEFORE, but now it's DISSINGAPPEAR.

Well, if it's dissingappear, I guess it's not worth my inningspect her hurting leg.  I probably won't be able to see anything anyway.

And on a final Madeleine note, after a weekend's worth of attempting to get Madeleine to smile for Elf family group photos, we Elf shiters finally threw in the towel and decided to just "smile" like Madeleine instead:

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Madeleine's World View

Some of the ways in which Madeleine has recently demonstrated that she truly understands the ways of the world:

#1

ME: I'm going to go check the mail, Madeleine.
MADELEINE: Wait, MAMA!  Can *I* get the mail??  But Mama.  You have to come with me.  Because there's SPIDERS down there.  And...and...there's a dusty kind of spider web down there called DUST webs.
ME: Those are called cobwebs honey.  They have no spiders in them.  They're just made out of dust.
MADELEINE: (pointing) Look, Mama?  See?  There's the DUST web.
ME: It's called a cobweb.
MADELEINE: Uh, no Mama, it's DUST web.


#2

Upon receiving a package in the mail from Yiayia containing a coloring book of Biblical pictures.

ME: Here's what the letter says: "Dear Madeleine, these are pictures of some of the people who came before Jesus-"
MADELEINE: Mama?  And did YIAYIA come before Jesus?

My kids and their stellar understanding of history!  Julia believes the Huns attacked China in the 1600's, while Madeleine assumes that Yiayia has been around since the B.C.E.  That's obviously how Yiayia knew about these people in the coloring book.  They're all her old buddies from back in the day.


#3

After my race today

ME: So Madeleine, what did you think when you saw me running?
MADELEINE: GOOD!
ME: But Mama.  I saw you, and then...you DISAPPEARED.
ME: I disappeared?  Did I vanish into thin air?
MADELEINE: No.  Mama.  I saw you, like, (climbing out of her chair and going to stand in the middle of the dining room) right HERE, and then...I didn't see you anymore.
ME: Oh, like you lost sight of me?
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  It was like you just FLEW up HIGH into the air, and then you landed WAY far away from where I could see you.  It's like you flew up to HEAVEN, and you went OUTSIDE OF THE EARTH, and then...you landed in South Carolina.


#4

Talking about people with differences and disabilities

ME: People come in all shapes, and sizes, and colors, and abilities.
MADELEINE: (interrupting me) Wait.  MAMA.  I've never heard of a WHITE person before.  Have you?

Uh, well, Madeleine, in fact I have.

ME: Well, it's true, people don't have skin that's really white, but people can have white hair.
MADELEINE: Well I only saw, like GRANDMOTHERS with white hair.
ME: There's a condition called "albino" and people born with it have white hair and very pale skin.
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  What about GREEN hair?
ME: You can dye hair green, but it doesn't grow green.  But people can have green eyes.
MADELEINE: But what about BLUE hair?

Apparently we were going to go through every single color on the spectrum thanks to my comment about people coming in all colors being taken totally literally.


And finally:

#5

To Caitlyn, on the day that I chaperoned Julia's field trip and Madeleine spent the day in Boston.

AUNTIE CAITLYN: So Madeleine, where is Julia going for her field trip?
MADELEINE: Uh...to her school.

That's right!  We took a wild and exciting field trip to Julia's school.  In fact, the only difference between a field trip and a regular school day is having Mommy for a chaperone!  Despite the numerous times I had talked with Madeleine about how I would be at the zoo and Madeleine would spend the day with Auntie Caitlyn, the information seems to have failed to process.  Especially since Friday night this happened:

ME: (to Ethan) So Daddy, Julia and I had a great time at the zoo today!
MADELEINE: The zoo?  You went to the zoo?!?
ME: Yes.  Remember?  For Julia's field trip.
MADELEINE: (face crumpling) But why didn't IIIIIIIIII get to goooooooo?

That's Madeleine.  Always totally with the program.

An Exciting and Very Busy Day

Yesterday was an exciting and exhausting day for both girls!  Julia's class took a field trip to the Franklin Park Zoo, and the chaperone for her group was none other than:

We had a great time exploring the zoo amongst the mobs of about ten other schools on their own school field trips. We managed to see every area of the zoo, even doubling back on some of our favorite spots, plus we spent ample time on the playground.  Needless to say, after 3.5 hours walking the zoo grounds in the bright sunshine, we were all wiped.  However, that did not stop Julia and her friends from bellowing out EVERY SINGLE SONG they had learned in first grade during the entire bus ride back to school.  Yes, that's right.  Julia the self-conscious Readers Theatre singer was the ring-leader in a total belt-a-thon during the bus ride.  I guess when she's not in the spotlight, she'll readily come out of her shell.

After the field trip, Julia had 45 minutes worth of laps at swim lessons, and then we headed over to Boston College for the Runners World Kid Races.  There, we met up with Madeleine, who had enjoyed her own action-packed day in downtown Boston with Auntie Caitlyn and Chad.  You can tell Madeleine was feeling simply FABULOUS as she was out and about:

You can see that Madeleine was already amping up for the evening's races by wearing my old Hartford Marathon medal from 2003.

The kids' races kicked off the weekend long Heartbreak Hill races, starting with the quarter mile for kids aged 2-5.

Madeleine was a bit apprehensive as she awaited the start of the race:

After the horn went off and the kids started running, I stood nervously awaiting the next sighting of the runners.  I had no idea if Madeleine would actually manage to a) make it through the run without a major face-plant, and b) not break down into a crying mess, wanting Mama part-way through the race.  Once the kids came into sight again, I kept an anxious eye out for Madeleine.

Turns out my fears were completely unfounded:

Yes, indeed, there was Madeleine, joyously skip-running along the course, having the absolute time of her life.



In summary, she had a BALL.

Julia was a trooper making it through her own half mile race.  After the long day at the zoo and her rigorous swim practice, she managed to pump on through the whole course like a champ:

The girls even got their own t-shirts and medals upon finishing.  Madeleine, who had cried over the fact that I made her take off my Hartford Marathon medal in order to run her race, ditched the aforementioned medal like a bad habit the moment she heard she would get her own plastic one:

What a day for the girls!  

Parks and Books

Today, as Madeleine and I sat chatting and cuddling on the couch, we began discussing parks.

MADELEINE: Mama?  Can we go to that park that ran back into action?

I had no idea what she was talking about.  Hearing "ran back into action" made me think of some military hero who went dashing back into enemy fire to continue fighting for his or her country.  I was trying to imagine what parks we've been to that either have statues of militia or are named after famous military leaders.

ME: Which one do you mean, honey?
MADELEINE: Uh, the one that ran into action.

I was at a complete loss.  Instead, I thought of the last park we had been to, at which a soccer tournament was occurring, coinciding with the girls playing on the playground and me doing a workout on the track.  That's kind of "running into action," right?  I asked Madeleine if that park was the one she meant.

MADELEINE: No, NOT that one.  The one that ran back into action.  But Mama?  How did it get back into action but there was, like, NO ONE there?
ME: Madeleine, I still don't know what park you're talking about.
MADELEINE: Uh, the one with the POOL.

The park with the pool.  Was this from a prior vacation?

It finally dawned on me that she was referring to Artesani Park, which is a year-round playground on the Charles River, with a seasonal wading pool and fountain area.  The pool opens on Memorial Day and stays open until Labor Day, and we drive by this park on our way to church.  Therefore, the girls both noticed that the water was cascading out of the big fountains in the wading pool on our last trip to church.  (Or, as Madeleine put it, the water was "running back into action.")

We did not go to any parks today, as the weather was lousy, but we did take a trip to the bookstore once Julia got out of school.  The girls each got two books, and one of Madeleine's books was a recap of the movie "Mulan."  This movie has been Madeleine's latest obsession, so of course, after having me read her the book, she insisted on watching the movie.  AGAIN.

Julia joined in the movie-watching, and became very interested in the history of the story (because we all know that Disney movies are extremely realistic and historically accurate.)

JULIA: (watching the Huns attack Mulan's army) Mommy?  What year did this war actually take place?
ME: Oh, it was a LONG time ago.
JULIA: Like, before the Revolutionary War?
ME: Waaay before that.
JULIA: So, like, in the 1600s?

Julia views the world through the lens of American Girl books.  Anything that pre-dates the formation of the United States of America is about as far back as she can imagine.

ME: No, like WAY before that.
JULIA: So, like, WHEN?

I looked it up on my computer, but unfortunately, since Mulan is a fictional character, there are no actual historical records of her army and its battle with the Huns.  The best I could do was give Julia a ballpark date based on when the Hun Dynasty ended.

JULIA: (looking at a map of places Huns had invaded.)  Wait.  Does that say FOUR HUNDRED?
ME: Yeah.  So, like, the year four hundred fifty-three.  I told you.  It was REEEEALLY long ago.
JULIA: (thoughtful) So was there really a girl named Mulan?

Well, probably at some point in the past history of the world.  But I think that's about the only connection between a girl named Mulan and the events of the Hun Dynasty.

At least now Julia has an understanding that major things actually happened before the United States of America formed.  Maybe we need to expand this American Girl thing and go WAY back through history into other Empires and nations.  Maybe even using real, actual historical figures.

Here are some ideas:

"Meet Honoria," sister of Emperor Valentinian III, engaged to Attila the Hun and exiled by her emperor brother for fraternizing with the enemy.

"Mary Magdalene Learns a Lesson," about Mary's transformation from prostitute to saint through her interactions with Jesus.

"A Surprise for Mary," in which Mary the mother of Jesus learns of her pregnancy.

"Joan Saves the Day" about Joan of Arc's activities during the Hundred Years War.

I know none of these would top Ju-Sa-Lil, of course, but it's just an idea.  What do you readers think?