Thursday, June 28, 2012

i'm sure that's how they think of you

"Mama! I just realized this.  I'm a niece, right?"

I confirmed that yes, she has many aunts and uncles.

"I love the word 'niece.'  It's just so soft and blossomy, wouldn't you agree?"

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

psht, we'll finish that in a week!

Some of Caroline's cousins have a summer tradition of making a collaborative list of things they want to do as a family each summer.  Stuff like camp in the backyard, visit Six Flags - 3 times, go to the beach at least 10 times, etc.  I think this is a fantastic tradition, and I showed the photo of this year's list to Caroline and proposed that she make a list of what she'd like to do this summer.   She got right to work.

I was imagining she'd want days spent at the pool, to take the training wheels off the bike, to make s'mores in the backyard... and then she proclaimed her list complete.  It was a short list.

On it?

• Drive a car (no help)
• Write a book about Norway
• Hang out with Katy Perry

Monday, June 25, 2012

mrow

Well, we adopted two little sister kittens a month ago.  They are neither Siamese nor Russian Blue, and she still trusts me.   The element of surprise must have helped her forget about that little requirement.



We let each girl choose a name.  Caroline chose Jane after some careful thought.  Sylvie chose Purple Dinosaur after no thought.  She's 2, after all.  We call Purple Dinosaur "Petey" most of the time. So now we have Jane and Petey, and the house feels right again.

Jane has patches of pretty grey and white, and because of this, Caroline is telling everyone that she is a newly created designer cat.  "She's a Ralico.  Part Russian Blue, part Calico.  She's the first Ralico.  That's why it's not in the books yet."

And she announced last night that she could smell each cat's special cat scent.

"I can totally smell them, Mom.  I can.  Only cats can smell other cats' scents.  I have to be at least 1/4 cat.  I'm 1/4 cat!!  And that quarter is definitely Siamese.  I have blue eyes."


Friday, June 22, 2012

pop quiz

It was 1:43am when a bed-headed Caroline walked up to her dad as he sat watching a movie in the basement.

"Daddy, can you name three cities in Russia?"

Chuck paused for a minute and said, "Uh, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and... Volgograd."  [He only knows that last one because of the Red Wings.]

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thanks Daddy.  You're the best!"

Then she turned and hopped back up the stairs and went back to bed.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

older wiser smarter

Today is Caroline's 6th birthday, and she is feeling very worldly, it seems.

We were talking about some of the teachers at her school who just had babies, and both babies were girls.  This led to her informing me that there are more girls than boys in our part of the world.

I said, "Yes, you're right.  And you know what else?  Women live longer than men!"

She sat straight up and got a big grin, "REALLY?!"

"Yep, it's true.  Women have a longer life expectancy than men do."

She tilted her head and patted me on the shoulder and said with a knowing nod, "We are seriously the lucky ones, my friend.  We are the lucky ones."