This is what I'm working with.

1. Rudy enjoys wearing a minimum of twelve beaded necklaces and two of her sister's medals on any given day. She typically pairs these accessories with her tutu, fairy wings, and her froggy boots. Also, sometimes, a sparkly, pink winter hat.

2. Rudy got new glasses. Surprisingly, her giant head is still too small for most of the plastic frames we looked at on display and in catalogs. Her new lenses, though, are a little more square and a little less round, and the frames "have pink on it." Rudy, clearly indoctrinated by her sister, looks for pink everywhere.

3. Lacrosse started yesterday and SAT prep started three weeks ago and my winter hibernation is over. OVER!

4. Today when we visited my mother, another visitor nodded his head at Marley and Rudy, racing gleefully up and down the hall with an inflatable ball, and asked her, "Are these your grandchildren?" She shook her head for a while and eventually said, "No." Then again, more certain: "No." This sort of thing has been happening for a long time, and it's never a surprise, but it's no less disheartening for its frequency.

5. Rudy clearly takes after me, and it's not just the winter hat. Her ramblings and the ways in which she continually amuses herself with wacky songs and one-sided conversations should be really, really familiar to those who grew up with me.