Barbie the Patient

I have to begin this post with a note about Barbie. I'm not a fan of giving Barbies to little girls, if for no other reason than little girls don't need to play with toys that have gigantic breasts. There are plenty of other reasons, to be sure, like her disproportionate measurements that give girls warped ideas about the female body, and the fixation on clothing and being pretty and hair-dos. There are just so many other things in the world that I want my children to be interested in, and Barbie ranks pretty darn low on the list. Having said that...

Ruby has a Barbie. We managed to avoid any and all interest in such things with Cecilia, but Ruby is ... well, Ruby. She changes her clothes multiple times a day, she notices clothes and outfits on others, and she thinks pink is the greatest color on the planet. This year, Santa brought her a new scooter for Christmas, and he might have had a coupon for the Barbie version of the scooter - the kind that comes with a spot for a Barbie doll. I suspect that Santa thought in order for the present to be complete, it should probably have a Barbie in the Barbie spot. And while I won't presume to always understand Santa's motivation, I think it's a fair assessment. Anyway...

One of the cats has done some chewing on Barbie's feet. Ruby discovered this yesterday and was very upset. There were tears and dirty looks shot at both cats, but I managed to calm Rubes down by telling her she should just bandage her up and pretend that Barbie had suffered some injury. Once we had a solution in mind, the whole thing was quickly forgotten and we moved on with our day.

I came home last night from a meeting after the girls were sleeping, but I did find their handiwork and HAD to share it:

Clearly Ruby recruited her older sister for this procedure because the work is just too good. Too bad the cats didn't start by giving Barbie a breast reduction, but this is still super awesome.

Math Terms

We're presently sitting at the dining room table, all doing homework. I'm reading Leadership for the Common Good, Cecilia is doing multiplication problems, and Ruby is drawing pictures of eating utensils. I actually love this time of day because we're together, we're chit-chatting as we work, and things feel calm yet productive. Today also included a jaw-dropping moment for me as Cecilia used the word "algorithm" correctly as she was describing her math methodology. As a reminder, she's 7.

Maybe if I buy her some candy she'll help me with my statistics homework tomorrow.

Home Again Home Again

We've done very little blogging lately because we haven't had much to blog about - the girls just returned from an extended stay with Grandma and Grandpa K in Wisconsin. We spent last weekend there, left the girls on Sunday to come back to MN, and only retrieved them yesterday (Friday). It was a LONG time without our favorite girls.

It worked out well because this week was full of various commitments for me and Dadam, so on one hand the week went by quickly and was pretty uneventful. On the other hand, the house was too quiet, the mornings were too calm, and I didn't laugh nearly as much as I do when my children are here. At times it was downright painful without them.

But now, thankfully, they're home. Our family is complete again and all is right with the world, and now I must sign off so I can go clean up the Cheerios that are spilled all over the coffee table...

Poison Popeyes.

Charles Osgood, in the closing moments of today's CBS Sunday Morning: . . . We leave you today in New Mexico, where the poppies are blooming.

Dadam [to Cecilia]: Do you remember a movie we've seen that has poppies? Where people are running through a field of poppies and they all fall asleep?

Cici: Um, Popeye?

Ruby's Porky Pig Moment.

[Ruby has drawn a picture of a prickly-looking animal.]

Dadam: What kind of animal is that, Ruby?

Ruby: It's a headhog . . . a headhog . . . a porcupine.

Fruit Salad

Last week Ruby was at the PBS Kids website and discovered one of the shows had posted some recipes. She managed to print one off for fruit salad and bring it down to me, asking if we could have this recipe for dinner. Since dinner was just simple veggie burgers, it seemed like a good idea to me, so the girls and I went to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients. And here they are, in action:

It was a big hit and Ruby was very pleased that everyone loved her recipe. Between her enthusiasm for recipes and Cecilia's interest in food prep, I'd say they are well on their way to following in their mother's footsteps. YAY!

I Suppose Not.

[Enter Dadam.]

Ruby: Where did you go?

Dadam: I took the garbage out.

Auntie Sarah: He was robbing a bank.

Ruby: He can't rob a bank without his coat on.