All the boys

Yali is fever-free in the morning without pain... though still feeling a little funky in the ear... and while he gets busy trying to convince Justin the snake that his feed worms are not actually his friends...

Patience is rolling west to another paid companion gig for the morning... Young "R" is happy to see her and begins heaving a peanut yoga ball to her across the driveway to show off his Scottish caber-tossing skills... later Mom texts me a photo of R brushing Patience's long black hair... “You raised a very brave daughter!!!”

Back home Oxbear is trying to figure out how he injured his foot and whether or not he's dealing with a potential fracture...

Plop another round of ear drops into Yali's ear for the afternoon... giggling as it tickles the interior... while we discuss his upcoming fencing lesson and he demonstrates his left-handed-ness with his plastic pirate's sword from Disney World...

A few hours later with more cash digitally pocketed for her babysitting services... Patience continues to envision her ideal pair of Nike “bubble shoes”... “I have a strong confidence that I'm going to be able to get them”...

Back home... Puck is off to work... he texts occasionally more about vehicle options and bank interest and loan options... consulting with uncles on opinions... and then somehow injures his hand on a metal cart splitting the skin over his knuckles...

As I drive him home at seven o'clock we try to remember how many times he's probably fractured his hand over the years and how many layers of scar tissue he probably has packed in there now... but he's got more important things to do than examine a slowly-bruising set of knuckles and throws a backpack together for driving out to St. Charles County to meet friends again...