A Little Unexpected

Rattlesnakes. I don’t know how they got in, but they were there wherever I was, looking more like cobras and black snakes. And they finished off a few people. Had to bury five of them. If there’s one thing that makes me jump, it’s a snake. Just call me Indiana Jones. Even in my dreams. Although this time, I must have been feeling braver than usual. Didn’t even walk a wide circle around any of them.

Back in reality, it was about an hour and a half into Yali’s second post-surgery appointment wait period at the hospital and all systems were finally “go” for speech therapy.

“He has such a sweet disposition!” Yali’s surgeon said with animation, as both of his assistants oohed and aahed over his cuteness.

All I could remember was how he’s taken to screeching lately when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it.

At the Big House, Yali took a snooze while I joined Mom at the table to discuss the foundation repair paperwork with the Helitech guy whose voice could almost rival Puck’s in volume. Eventually Carrie-Bri and Francis took my place. That is, until Mom and the Helitech guy began looking at his family photos and talking politics. By that time, Carrie-Bri and Francis had joined me in the living room where Francis found a small Nerf gun and began shooting at us. Until Carrie threatened to dump water on his head. Fortunately this was all done in almost complete silence, since Yali was still napping and the Helitech guy was describing his beach wedding to Mom in the dining room.

Three o’clock and the usual three-way tug-of-war over the little brown baby continued in Hans’ classroom. It’s basically an every day occurrence. But this time, Heidi decided to extract herself from the equation to take a more academic approach. She found a sheet of red paper and a pencil and began taking down all of Yali’s information, his likes and dislikes, important dates, clothing sizes, etc. Knowledge is power.

As we left for home, Puck informed me of their class party taking place tomorrow morning before spring break, and the ensuing conversation with his teacher.

“Mom, I asked her, ‘What will someone do if they don’t like ice cream?’ And she said, ‘Well, who doesn’t like ice cream?’ And I said, ‘I don’t.’ So she asked what I wanted to have and I said that I would like a bowl of carrots and a small bowl of popcorn instead.”

I wash my hands of this.