Elementary. (No, Not School.)

CECILIA [to Dadam]: Dad, if Sherlock Holmes met you, he would probably say, "Thirty-five years old, just bought new Yaktrax today!"

(Explanatory note: The girls and I have been watching the old Granada Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett. Yaktrax are basically snow chains for running shoes, and I did in fact buy a new pair yesterday.)

Rite of Passage

Many, many years ago we (mostly Uncle Ramon) discovered that you could jump off Grandma's garage roof after a heavy snowfall. We would pile up snow under the overhang, and then climb up a ladder and jump off. We've been doing this for years and it might have happened for the first time following the Halloween blizzard of 1991 (note to cousins -- does this sound right to you?). At any rate, it's been a long time since we've had enough snow to safely jump off the garage ... until NOW!!

At some point on Christmas Day I noticed Uncle Ramon getting the girls into their snow pants and coats and was delighted that someone was taking my children out to play. After all, I was still delirious from getting up before 4AM. And then the children were up on the roof.


And then they were jumping.


And then they roared with laughter and squealed with delight.

Marine Biology

It's only a matter of time before Cecilia surpasses me in intellect, and today was a good reminder of how quickly she's closing in. We took the girls to an aquarium because we had some coupons and it was a good excuse to get them out of the house (and away from the Wii), and this particular aquarium has several species of shark. It's a neat set-up where the sharks and other fish swim over you as you walk through a glass tunnel of sorts, and it provides some fun views of the animals.

As many of you know, Cecilia is an animal-lover and will watch nature programming (slack-jawed and totally mesmerized) no matter what animals happen to be featured. And she gets really into it. So as we walked along the aquarium today, family after family would pass us by because - whereas other kids are all, "Neat, seahorses," and move on - Cecilia must scrutinize the animals from every angle and ask all kinds of questions. She very much gets this from her father. (Ruby, on the other hand, wanted me to point out fish privates as they swam overhead. She very much gets this from her mother.)

So I should've known better than to question her authority on a certain species, but when she told me that one was a brown reef shark I had the nerve to say, "How do you know that?" So she walked over to the aquarium employee to get confirmation and the lady told her yes, that it was in fact a brown reef shark. Cecilia went on to identify several other kinds of sharks and fish for me while I tried to figure out how long before she's officially smarter than me. Weeks? Days? Mere seconds?!

3:58 a.m.

That is the time that our children woke us up to let us know Santa had been to the house.

First Game EVER!

Last Saturday was Cecilia's first ever basketball game (the previous week's game having been canceled due to 7,000 feet of snow). She was a little bit nervous but seemed to really enjoy herself once she got into things.


She also had her own cheering section: Mom, Dad, Ruby, Great-Grandma, and Great Auntie Dolores were all there to cheer her on. Her team lost and she was disappointed, but it was a good opportunity to learn about being a good sport and that winning isn't everything (though that's always been a hard pill for Momlissa to swallow...). The chocolate chip pancakes afterward helped her bounce back pretty quickly.

There probably won't be lots of basketball pictures because it's more fun to watch than it is to to try and catch her in action, but here she is in all her first-game glory. Go Mustangs!

Snow Day!

For the first time since Cecilia started school 4 years ago, the public schools here are closed tomorrow due to weather. We are still up to our eyeballs in snow around here, and wind chills are going to be around -15 tomorrow, so it's probably best not to have kids waiting around for buses that can barely get around. It will be our third day of being snowed in (though Dadam did manage to get to a theater today for a double-feature with the girls).

I wonder if the girls will remember this storm the same way that I remember the Halloween blizzard of '91...?

Food and Drink.

Chocolate milk drives me crazy. It’s everywhere, and for some reason many parents seem to believe that the only way their child will drink milk is if it’s flavored (most often with chocolate, but strawberry and banana are out there, too). Both the girls are given the choice at school between chocolate and white milk, and I know they often choose the chocolate. I’ve tried to encourage them to choose the white milk more often, simply because it contains fewer calories and fat than the flavored counterpart. I’m no dummy – I know that this is unlikely because who would turn down chocolate milk (it really can be yummy), but I feel when it comes to empty calories and unnecessary sugar it’s at least worth a shot.

Knowing that they’re drinking chocolate milk at school, when we occasionally go out to dinner I (attempt to) make them choose white milk or water. (I’m not a food Nazi or anything, but this is how Americans get/got fat: taking in too many empty calories and expending too few. There’s nothing wrong with desserts or treats now and then, but chocolate milk at every meal is simply not necessary.)

Last Friday we knew we were going to go out to eat because of our evening plans, and the girls were looking forward to this outing after our participation in the Holidazzle parade (see previous post). When I picked Ruby up from school she informed me that at lunch and snack SHE CHOSE WHITE MILK so that she could order the chocolate milk at the restaurant. Ruby is five. She made the healthy choice.

And just now the girls were watching Arthur on PBS where the topic was nutrition. The children on the show were asked to pick what one food item they would take with them if stranded on an island. I asked the girls what they would want in that situation, and here are their choices, with absolutely no prompting from me:

Cici: Mango.

Ruby: Brussels sprouts.

My kids RULE.

Reporting In.

A quick mish-mash of things here on a freezing Friday morning in our fair city. In only slightly particular order:

1) A typical conversation:

Momlissa: Duuuuuude, your fart STINKS!
Cecilia: It's a gift.

2) Ruby, excited about the Holidazzle parade: "We get to see Handsome and Gretel!"

3) I couldn't take it anymore and Cecilia got a pretty major haircut on Sunday (she chose the length):

4)Tonight the four of us get to be in the Holidazzle parade as volunteers. If you do not know what this is you are either A) not from the Twin Cities or, B) you are a shut-in. Either way I feel bad for you. If you're curious, go here: http://www.holidazzle.com/ We're all rather excited!

5) Recently I pulled out some papers from Ruby's backpack and found a picture she made at school:


It stopped me in my tracks. When Ruby was hospitalized for Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in 2007, there was a period of time before the dialysis when they were still trying to diagnose her but it was clear she was losing kidney function. Because of this, she was not able to have any fluids, not even tiny sips of water because her body was not able to process the fluids. In a hellish nightmare that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, we had to deny our child water even though she cried and begged for it. Desperate, I snuck her the tiniest slivers of ice-no bigger than a pencil eraser-and she just wanted more. It was perhaps one of the worst moments I've ever known, and it culminated with my poor baby throwing herself down in frustration where she banged her forehead full force onto the bed rail. It. Was. Awful.

If there is a silver lining to that experience, it's that Ruby has no memory of any of it. She knows she was sick and can show you the scars, but she doesn't remember how scary it really was. We, however, remember all too well. So when my daughter brings home a picture stating she's thankful for water, I have to stop and give thanks, too. Thanks for long drinks of water, for working kidneys, and for a daughter who can't remember a time without those things.