December 6th, 2024

Yali runs out into the living room with the new elvish sword and one of Oxbear’s back-up wedding bands (we lose those things a lot apparently) on a chain around his neck… he is fully Hobbit today
Halfway through math class, I bus Patience in bitter sunshine to the hospital… CT scan first (ears)… three minutes later under a lead apron, Patience is given two tokens for the gadget gumball machine… upstairs for ENT… microscope cleaning and the determination… “Well… her hearing isn’t improving from the ear tubes so… you can either choose an MRI, exploratory surgery to see if there’s a cyst in that Swiss cheese area, or sit on it” (we’ll sit on it)
While in the city, text Mom about a radio blurb advertising Judy Garland’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” wardrobe currently on display at the History Museum… take a call from Puck, wants one of the free cheeseburgers at McD’s (throw in some fries)

Home earlier than expected… discussing the fascinations of topography online with Elmer while the kids lunch
After the second half of math class… shuttle kids back to the park for about an hour… Patience meets a big sweet black dog (Hazel) as they tear around the grounds, all to themselves again

Dinner is tacos… about twenty-three tacos scrubbed out between the five… the dog is walking around licking up fallen debris from dinner… shreds of cheese sitting on her fat back
Kids preparing for bed… Puck hits the shower to go out on the town… Patience “la la la”-ing a version of “Deck the Halls”, Yali screeching some inexplicable sound that feels something like “Dwee-EEM!”, dog chasing the yellow cat through the pet door in Puck’s room… I sweep up the madness of the day… Laffy Taffy wrappers, 3D printer shards, potato chips…