Toilet Paper Wood?

Cici: I'd like to make a kind of sled for sledding on in the wintertime. You could use it to slide on the ice, only I wouldn't make it out of regular wood, because that's too hard. I wish you could make it out of toilet paper wood.

Momlissa: Toilet paper wood?

Cici: Yeah. You know, the kind of wood that you hang the toilet paper on.

Momlissa: Oh, cardboard.

Cici: Yeah, cardboard. That way if you crash while you're sledding, you won't get hurt by the wood.

[pause]

Dadam: Toilet paper wood?

Random Cici Quotes.

[Trying to get her swim goggles to fit:] I need a repairment.

***

[Watching contestants racing on American Gladiators:] Ooh, they're neck to neck.

Ruby Sings "Cici's Song."

Here's a great video of Ruby singing a song about her sister. The sound quality's not the greatest, but you'll get the idea. And no, she doesn't actually know what "making love" means yet, thank goodness. . . .

Valleyfair

We took Cici to Valleyfair for her birthday on Thursday and had a marvelous time. The weather was gorgeous and the lines were very short and our birthday girl was B-R-A-V-E! For those familiar with Valleyfair, here is what she rode:

Corkscrew (twice)
Xtreme Swing
Looping Starship (twice)
Scrambler
Monster
Tilt-a-Whirl
The Flume
Thunder Canyon
Chaos
Swings
High Roller
Bumper Cars
Mad Mouse
Supercat

I should note that both the Looping Starship and the Corkscrew go upside down and Cici was not afraid for even a moment. Dadam, on the other hand, nearly passed out on the Xtreme Swing and sat out many rides due to "motion sickness." Bah. Cecilia was also allowed a pronto pup and cotton candy. She looks pretty darn happy, doesn't she?

Random Quotes.

Dadam: Girls, I'm going to go upstairs for a minute and go potty.

Cici and Ruby: Woo hoo!

***

[Cici and Ruby are working on a project "together."]

Cici: Ruby, no! Don't take those, they're mine!

Ruby: Well, how 'bout you try getting along with me?

The Moment I've Been Waiting For - One Of My Daughters Discovers Irony.

Actually, if you count sarcasm as irony, which it is, both Cici and Ruby are already pretty facile in it, but this is the incident that really impressed me with Cici. It's literary irony; we are currently reading Peter S. Beagle's [marvelous] The Last Unicorn at bedtime. It's the story of a unicorn, presumed to be the last in the world, who goes on a quest with a magician named Schmendrick and a woman named Molly Grue. The other night I was reading a chapter to the girls, and this exchange with Cici followed:

Dadam: "[Schmendrick] said . . . 'Now if they had wanted me to lift the curse - ah, that
I might have done. . . . Haven't you ever been in a fairy tale before? . . . The hero has to make a prophecy come true, and the villain is the one to stop him. . . . It's a great relief to find out about Prince Lir. I've been waiting for this tale to turn up a leading man.' . . . Molly said, 'If Lir is the hero, what is [the unicorn]?' 'That's different. Haggard and Lir and Drinn and you and I - we are in a fairy tale, and must go where it goes. But she is real. She is real.'"

Cici: Heh.

Dadam: What? What's funny?

Cici: Well, they're talking about being in a book.

Dadam: Oh yeah? Well, why's that funny?

Cici: Well, because they are in a book. Schmendrick is making a joke, when he says they're in a fairy tale, 'cause he thinks they're real - he doesn't mean it. But what's funny is, they actually are in a fairy tale, 'cause they're in a book. They're not real at all. It's a joke.

Dadam: I love you so much.

Raspberry Pickin'

Last weekend we took the girls raspberry picking at a farm about 45 minutes away. Ruby ate far more berries than she collected (see Photo #2), and Cici got pretty darn good at finding raspberries hiding under the leaves (that's where the good ones were).

It was definitely a successful outing -- we came home with six pints of raspberries, two exhausted daughters, and one Mommy who couldn't wait to start looking up raspberry recipes. Here we are in action...


Update from Dadam: Look at Ruby's knees in this bottom photo and you'll get an idea of what our summers are like.