Runner

Back before Kindergarten, Principal Rhine at Oxford told us: "He's a runner." Alex would get worried, or lose track of us, and suddenly be...across the schoolyard, or out the door, or two blocks away back home, having run across busy intersections and inspired the concern of strangers. Last week, it was school. School has been rough because it increasingly demands a whole lot of writing, and German school even more so because switching into another language at the end of a long school day is just tiring. So Alex, having big feelings, decided to follow the sound of singing and sit in on a chorus practice instead. Yikes.

Buddies

These two were adorable yesterday. They got totally sidetracked during D&D by the fact that we went to a bar, and were suddenly up out of their seats with Alex chugging all the beer and Duncan tackling him and yelling "Don't drink all the beer! He's drinking all the beer! I throw marshmallows at you!" Brawl ensues.

Then story time, and I asked for committment to storytelling over derailing one-liners "Because the goal is to tell a story, right? The goal is not 'Make Gaby lose her mind.' Both had been nodding alog and then D suppressed a little giggle and said apologetically 'That was a tiny bit funny....'"

Story had 12 year old boy who can turn into a cat and a giant fidget spinner making friends with 5-headed Cobra hydra/dragon with no wings. Long discussion of where in Cobra-dragon's body/necks one would best attach jetpacks in order to get him back to his floating ocean in the clouds.

When jetpacks were slightly underpowered for the task, the problem was solved with diet coke and mentos, and fidget spinner kid tried to guzzle the stream of rocket-diet-coke from below during blastoff.

Saguaro

Loves saguaro cacti, so much that he started taking field notes in a hike with Nana and Grandpa in Scottsdale and said he wants to move there for college so he can go to their house for sleepovers on the weekends.

Loves stuffies, so much they sometimes have to take exams at bedtime for their "school" that he's teaching, and every cardboard box becomes a home for them.

Loves loves loves cuddles and wrestles.