That Darn Cat

Carl and I have long resisted any pets other than the odd fish (the odd thing about them is they usually die within a week) or pet rocks, which usually keep the dust bunnies under the bed company.

Under the guise of being a good friend by getting a kitten to replace a beloved dead cat of her friend Phoenix (what a ruse!), Lucy brought home a kitten. We kept it for a few days expecting Phoenix to show up and claim the kitty for her own. That never happened.

After the kitty pooped and peed everywhere in our house and we threatened to give him back...we had named him. The first sign of resignation. His name is Ringo. Although, Carl, the biggest Beatle fan in the universe, has not once called the cat that. (Raoul, Rupert, Eddie, Phil, Roger Ramjet, Kitty-cat Berkowitz, to name just a few of the ones he's come up with.)

When we picked the name of Ringo (yeah, I picked it), it was at dinner. We went through several names and I suggested Ringo. Ava casually piped up, "That's a Beatle." Whoa. You should have seen Carl's face. I believe that must have been the proudest moment in his fatherhood...he beamed with a look that said, "I've raised these girls right!"

The girls have been so happy. They are very good about feeding him, cleaning his litter box (he FINALLY figured it out), holding him, cuddling him, walking him, playing with him and treating him like a sibling (which involves a lot of teasing, apparently).

Carl and I are happy too. This little guy is a part of our lives. He's playful and funny. We have laughed more and been more calm with a kitten in our lives. I'm the most surprised by this because I always thought cats were lazy and aloof. Not Ringo. He's a social, friendly little kitty who makes me smile. If I had high blood pressure, he would be the best antidote.

Who Made the Sky?

This one is another one of Ava's observations.

We were driving - that seems to be when we have our deepest conversations - and Ava asked me,

"Mommy, who made the sky?"

"God did, honey."

"Did he use fluffy stuff for the clouds?"

"Um, yes, I think so."

"And he used blue stuff for the sky."

More Ava-isms: about the crummy weather we've been having

The other day, I was driving the girls to school and Ava was in the car, talking away about the neighborhood park. It has been a topic of much discussion for us, since it is getting remodeled. New playground equipment has been put in and we're both dying to try it all out. The CAUTION tape has been around the playground for a while. This particular day, there weren't any big machines and Ava asked if we could play. I explained that the playground still wasn't ready.

"Besides, everything is wet from the rain," I said.

She responded,"We could dry it all off!" At which I calmly explained that we really couldn't do that because it would take too long and we wouldn't have enough towels to do it all...that was the sun's job: to dry off playground equipment. It was still cloudy at the time and the sky was ominously gray.

"Why isn't the sun out, Mommy?"she asked.

"Maybe because he's still sleeping, or maybe he's crabby and doesn't want to get up," was my reply - I'm pretty quick to explain fictitious reasons for things I can't explain otherwise. It's called creativity. :)

Then, she proceeded to have a "conversation" with the sun, which went something like this:

Sun, are you sleepy?
No

Are you tired?
No

Are you crabby?
No

Are you snuggled up in bed, with your blankies?
No

Are you watching SpongeBob?
No, I don't have SpongeBob. I only have football on tv. I'm watching football.