13 OCT 25

Aware in the early morning that something is standing over me... waiting... patiently... open my eyes to a pair of other eyes staring down at me from above... “Can I make pancakes?”...

While Patience busies herself with a bowl of batter in the kitchen before classes...

…Puck throws himself out the door for another morning neighborhood run...

...and Yali can be seen repeatedly slamming a can of sparkling water into the front walk until it breaks enough to chug out the slash on the side... before walking back indoors to begin wrapping his hands with masking tape for some unknown reason...

Puck returns in the middle of math class to stir up a few distractions while Patience tests out her newest nickname for him... “Hey Skinny Green Frog!” // “What” // “You don't like that one? What about Meatballs? Orange?”... Puck just stares at her and starts googling the alcohol content of vanilla extract while explaining to her how nicknames work...

…as Yali begins placing his temporary tattoo order for the morning... handing me the pack of tattoo markers...

Somehow math still gets done...

Also somehow it's already four o'clock and after speech therapy Patience is busy chasing Yali around the house with a hairbrush... Yali screaming in laughter as Patience attempts to catch his long black hair into new and ridiculous hair-dos... “You look like a Muppet” // “AH HA HA HA HA HA!”

About an hour later Yali punches through the kitchen after some intense trampolining... with a small spray bottle of lemon juice occasionally spraying it into his mouth for reasons I leave Puck to figure out...

...while I prepare them all plates of roast for dinner before leaving for fencing...

DC Talk playing in the club when we arrive... blasts from high school... soon Yali's rumbling across the floor giggling and jump-lunging back and forth with his opponent... loving it...