And So it Begins

Lately Yali has learned the art of self-punishment. When he starts whining because things just aren’t going the way he envisions they should go, I won’t let it last long.

“Go to the corner, Yali,” I point to the chair waiting just for him in the kitchen next to the white board.

He throws his head back in a wail of disgrace and walks to the chair, hauls himself to the seat, and sits there to bawl. Until he remembers that crying put himself there in the first place.

“Yali. Tranquilo. Tranquilo.”

Then he stops crying, takes a deep breath, apologizes by rubbing a fist over his chest, afterwhich he is allowed to remove himself from the corner chair and resume play. So far, it’s working pretty well.

Meanwhile, I spent part of the morning checking in with Yali’s various adoption papers, doctors, appointments, tests, bills, etc. One step at a time. He was blissfully unaware of any of this, ankle-deep in a large basket of matchbox cars.

“Every time I see this girl, she always has that baby on her hip!” The school librarian observed Violet carrying Yali through the hall after school.

It’s true. You could most appropriately say they are, in fact, attached at the hip. One of the advantages of having teachers for parents means she can leave the gym early on the pretense of waiting for her dad in his classroom, in order to snag Yali on the way.

Back home to a house strewn with matchbox cars and Legos. I figure there isn’t much point in having them clean it up until the evening.

Puck also had a compliment for me as I got the boys ready for their bubble bath.

“Mom, you know the new Spanish teacher at school?”

“I haven’t seen her yet, no.”

“Well, she’s even skinnier than YOU!”

Watching the Cards win their 100th game of the season ended with Oxbear carting home a few treats to celebrate, in the form of Dairy Queen blizzard and cheese curds.

Cards clinch NL Central after double-header in Pittsburgh!