The Scholar is 9. He is writing a story that includes elements of Harry Potter, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time, Old Yeller, and a handful of other books. It reads like a primitive Ender’s Game. He is getting more sensitive and feels very responsible. He hates to be lectured and I am beginning to think that it is because he is actually rather hard on himself. Yet, he quickly descends into hilarity, careening through the house while laughing in a high-pitched squeal that makes me grit my teeth. It’s fun to watch him be happy. His teen years loom before me and I realize that his childhood abandon will give way soon enough to…whatever comes next. He’s a sweet boy.

The Hippy is almost 8. He had struggled so much with schoolwork, but he is coming along well. He is writing his own tchroo storees about various adventures with animals. I love his vocabulary. He also runs with abandon, but he is more even-keeled than his brother. He has a very keen sense of thesosis, by which I mean he consciously tries to grow spiritually. It is really amazing to watch him pursue virtue. However, he has a mischievous sense of humor and an almost compulsive need to pick on easy targets. He loves to torment his sister even though he would die defending her against anyone else.

The Princess is 5. She is a very quick little girl. She reads and writes well. She tends to be more ruled by her emotions than the Hippy. She compulsively tinkers with relationships in the family. For instance, she took a phonogram test at school this week and wrote question marks for a handful of sounds that I know she knows. I asked her dad to re-adminster the test at home on Thursday. Again, she wrote question marks. I came home and gave her the test, first explaining that she would “wet, dry, try” (write the letters with a wet sponge and then again with chalk) each one she missed for extra practice. She not only got every letter correct, her penmanship was perfect. She just wanted me to administer the test. That’s my girl. Still, she is very loving to all of us and often spontaneously declares her love for us with words, gifts, and hugs. She is a sweetie.

The Husband had shingles this week. Poor man. He stayed home from work all week because his officemate is pregnant. He has been very patient through it all. He got some good drugs and seems to be healing up pretty well already. He has been very sweet to me lately and supremely patient. My work has been very demanding, we’ve had a ton of family through our house due to my cousin’s death, and I’ve had a very hard time working through my own grief about my cousin. It wasn’t a great time for shingles (when is?) and he’s been really great.

Evie