SMAtuS: Would Friday by any other name taste as sweet?

Sarah: Doing the hard work: day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

Max: New bike helmet. Who knows what other hijinks in the meantime? When Alice is sad, he tells her that I’m at work, but that I’ll be home soon. It’s stories like that that keep me going.

Alice: The teeth, they keep getting bigger. Is that #4 approaching? Also, her hair is almost in her eyes? 80s-style headbands or clips?

time: 2010’s been a slog so far.

us: Crawling toward wellness.

Shawn: Grinding out text, word by painful word.

SMAtuS: The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Typing

Sarah: First time alone at the zoo with two kids: success!

Max: Slept in. Rode bike there and back. Met Norman, the King Cobra. Grilled cheese induced head bonk. So sad.

Alice: @10 minutes after waking: Outfit #2

time: The morning goes too fast

us: Yes.

Shawn: Feeling groggy, but no grog to be had. January barbeque on the deck. Chatted with Max on the internet for the first time. Inscrutable:

(3:05:31 PM) SARAH: 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000.3.2222222.11111111178=-++++++
(3:05:47 PM) Shawn: what? am i talking to max here? :)
(3:05:50 PM) SARAH: 89o[
?9’/
(3:06:07 PM) Shawn: nice
(3:06:41 PM) SARAH: ………………………………..

SMAtuS: The Aftermath

Sarah: Nothing a little wine, olives, and focaccia wouldn’t cure. Didn’t stiff barkeep this time. Thank god for family-powered childcare. (Here’s to you, Alicia!)

Max: It’s a pajama-powered day, today. Yukkin’ it up at the grocery store, or so I have read.

Alice: Croupy as all get out, poor thing.

time: The only cure for the Croup. Unlike the Gout.

us: Off to wear our daytime hats.

Shawn: When finally alone, the brain spins down to a full stop, wound down, strings cut. Stupid painted awake eyes, but try for sleep anyhow.

SMAtuS: Baby steps to tomorrow

Sarah: …Let’s just say it was not the best birthday ever.

Max: Yes, sir, that boy’s got a set of pipes on him. Welcome to the “terrible” twos, old son.

Alice: Always watching, always listening, such pressure.

time: Can we get to next week already?

us: Held together with duct-tape and some chewing gum. Some twine would be helpful.

Shawn: …Let’s just say it was not the best unbirthday ever.

SMAtuS: An unholy combination

Sarah: Many happy returns! Tea and cakes all round.

Max: Late Night + Cake + Ice Cream + (Temporarily) Lost Binky + Toothbrushing = An unholy combination, let me tell you!

Alice: Unswaddled, a total bed hog. It’s family tradition, yo! 

time: What is this?

us: Verging on total wellness.

Shawn: Blinded by the light. We actually had a few minutes of sunshine around here, imagine that.

SMAtuS: Sleep and its Malcontents

Sarah: Made some rocking ‘dillas this weekend. Too tired to recollect what was in them, but it sure was tasty. The apartment work’s cranking into overdrive. Sleep interrupted.

*

Max: –That cat is going away.
–Where’s that cat going?
–To his cat job.
–What does he do at his cat job?
–{{undecipherable}}
–Does that mean you have a Max job?
–Yes.
–What do you do at your Max job?
–It is a car job. It is a truck job.

Attended his first White Elephant party. No elephants, but he did get a present that he genuinely likes. (The present we brought, sadly, went over like a lead balloon…)

*

Alice: We read a comic book and part of the novel I’m reading. She didn’t have much to say about either. But, boy howdy, does she like to kick her feet. Got her first “haircut”; had to snip away a fuzzy snarl. Our lil’ Houdini is no longer a swaddled babe; handcuffs in a bank vault next? Also, played on a piano for the first time.

*

time: Like molassess gravy on a cold afternoon. Last Friday feels like a lifetime ago.

*

us: Sleep was hard to come by, and easily lost, for all concerned.

*

Shawn: Read some, slept some, woke some, walked some, talked some, stared into the middle distance some, played some, strolled some, ate some, thought some, watched some, computered some, intervened some, pianoed some, emailed some, listened some, coffeed some, searched some, found some, lost some, laughed some, gritted some, called some, comforted some, washed some, cradled some, eyedropped some, drank some, sat some, stood some, kissed some, misunderstood some, angered some, fought some, apologized some, bided some, opened some, closed some, lived some, died some.