Two turntables and a microphone...

Caroline constantly amazes me with her creativity and artistic output. It used to be hard to throw away or recycle her masterpieces, but we eventually hit the tipping point - probably sometime during kindergarten - so now we're more selective in what stays in the art binder for keeps.

Like most seven year olds, there are lots of pictures of rainbows, butterflies, flowers, princesses, castles... Mediums of markers, pens, pencils, crayons, watercolors, even tempera paints sometimes. All of them wonderful because they're little windows into her personality.

This past weekend, though, was an original. I guess for background, you have to know that Daddy loves - and I mean LOVES - to sing. Not so much along with songs on the radio; no, he loves to sing while he cooks or does the dishes or picks up around the house, and he loves to compose lyrics and sometimes even the tunes to go with them.

Knowing that, this is one of the most priceless creations yet:

That's right: it's a microphone. In fact, it's a double sided microphone. The possibilities are endless. Want to talk at the dinner table? Gotta have the microphone. Kids driving us nuts in the car? Any comment, microphone required. Can't stop picking on your sister? You will sing her an apology, into the microphone.

Somehow I doubt Caroline intended to give Mommy a diabolical tool.

It came with song lyrics, too, about one of Daddy's favorite things:

I'm determined that my kids will be engineers or scientists. But if Caroline wants to be a struggling songwriter on the side, I'm okay with that, too.