Today I cleared the couch of all unfolded laundry. I cleared it by folding the laundry and putting all the items away. I really feel like I'm making progress in my goal to someday be clean and organized. ;-)

Bardo loves playing outside. And he loves watching TV, playing computer games, and baking cookies, and tracing. He's also discovered that he loves his little sister. He can make her smile if he pushes her gently on the swing. Bardo even wanted Boo on his lap during family prayer today. He's also discovered that hitting her is not a good way to make her stop crying. And that pretending to shoot at her with his arm does, in fact, make her cry.

Boo is quickly discovering the art of communication. She can get just about anything if she points at it and says, "uhuhooo" with a tone of urgency. Sometimes she'll run into the house, get my attention and then run ahead of me, finger lifted in the air until she gets close enough to point at the swing. If Bardo's swinging she needs to swing too. It feels so good to have them side by side, happy in the beautiful weather. Boo likes the library. She climbs right up to the tables, sometimes on the tables, and dismantles the wooden puzzles. Bardo was right next to her today, replacing the pieces as she finished undoing them. She also joyfully unloads the board book bin. Bardo is very good at picking out good board books for her to check out.

Pippi brought The Half-Blood Prince movie home today from school. One of her buddies had lent it to her. She finished her chores and homework in record time so she could watch it. How could I say no? She quickly came down from watching the movie when I called her to dinner and informed me that eating dinner with the family was much more important than watching her movie. I'm glad she's got her priorities straight.

When Pippi's not reading Harry Potter she's playing or talking about Harry Potter with her like-minded friends. She temporarily misplaced her very own copy of The Half-Blood Prince twice this week. She wept each time.
I felt like weeping today, too, when I pulled my paperback copy of The Trumpet of the Swan, drenched, out of my washing machine. Isn't it amazing how much books can mean to us?

I've been wearing my boot consistently. I will be patient. I will persevere. This body of mine can heal if I just let it.