It’s just a big week of milestones.
Over the last couple of weeks, two different parents1 asked me about the Gang Of Four doing some paintball and if I knew anything about that or had any pointers. Hahaha. It just reminded me that I need to find the picture of me and Corwin out on the paintball field when he was 2 days old.
Anyway, this ended up getting Corwin interested as well, so we had planned to have Jack and Corwin help me dig out and clean my paintball markers the previous Monday. However, because of the school play that didn’t work out. We tried against yesterday and were more successful on the scheduling.
I located all of my old equipment, some of it literally mouse infested. But a lot of it was still in good shape. There were even some paintballs which still worked, which is actually amazing since they’d been sitting in a non thermally controlled garage for 7 or so years. I had sealed the in air tight containers, but still. There were even some CO2 cylinders still charged up, so after cleaning up one of the marker we were able to go out on the back porch and do some shooting. It was the first time for all three (Corwin, Charles, Jack). We managed to get Jack’s dad out for a few rounds when he came by to retrieve Jack.
The boys definitely enjoyed it, although they weren’t much help or attention during the preparation. Still, I have two markers that are not working so Corwin will be helping me trouble shoot those.
The boys are shooting one of my Automag 68 Classic markers with a DYE stainless steel barrel.
Monday we had quite a lot of hail. It wasn’t very big (BB sized, or a bit larger) but there was a lot of it.
It came in waves on and off for most of the afternoon and evening. There were some very interesting looking clouds. Rather than a big mass cover the sky, there were thick bands of dark clouds bring the hail with big expanses of clear blue sky around them.
Naturally, this meant soccer practice was still on as it wasn’t raining and there was no lightning. Most of Charles’ team showed up in the hail, 45°F air with 15-20 MPH winds, but Corwin’s team had a low turnout. They even ducked indoors near the end of practice when the hail got particularly thick.
But not Charles’ team! They were not Wimp Crew. Like real soccer players, then practiced right on through the hail, the brief rain, and more hail until practice time was over. I made sure to have Charles point this out to Corwin, because I knew he would want to be proud of his brother.
Dad: I thought you were going to take Polynomial for a walk.
Corwin: We don’t want to.
Dad: Hmmm. Hey Mom!
Mom: Yes?
Dad: Do Corwin and Jack want to take Poly for a walk?
Mom: Yes they do.
Dad: There you go. Your opinion has been clarified.
The weekend theme was “bicycle”. Mom had been looking at bikes all week, but decided to act on Saturday. She got a new bike for Corwin and new training wheels for the little bike so that Alice can ride it as her first bike. Charles, as noted, has also recently become bike capable. Mom had some problems getting the training wheels on (they were too tall, so we had to angle them forward to get the height right) but in the end everyone was on a bike except for poor lonely Dad. Mom and Corwin went off on a bike ride to his school while I tried to keep Alice and Charles from getting run over.
Mom also got bike baskets for Alice and Charles, along with a bike horn for Charles and a bike bell for Alice. Charles refused the horn and later took off his basket but Alice liked her accouterments.
On Sunday Mom took both boys off for a long bike ride all the way downtown. It was somewhat slow going because of Charles, but he made it all the way there and back without whining. He also wore a backpack with a sleeping bag in it, presumably in case he couldn’t make it back until tomorrow.
A cloud on the horizon, though, is that Mom is threatening to get herself a bike so she doesn’t have to borrow mine and I would then be able to go on the rides as well. I just don’t see that we have that kind of money in the family budget and, as a loving and dutiful Dad, I will just have to make that sacrifice.
Corwin on his first ride of his new bike
Mom: I was just wondering what wonderful things all of you kids are going to do for me for my birthday.
Charles: When is that?
Mom: Tuesday.
Charles: That’s math night at school!
Dad: So Mom gets to go and do math with you and Corwin for her birthday?
Charles: Yes. [to Mom] There you go!
Charles had this week off, so it’s all Corwin for soccer. The weather was excellent, in the high 50s with just a little bit of cloud.
I thought the game wasn’t going to be very good when Corwin’s team scored two goals in the first couple of minutes. The other team’s defenses stiffened up after that and it was a much more even game. Overall, though, Corwin’s team had better field domination, keeping the ball near the oppposing goal much more. The other team scored on a good play in the third quarter, but Corwin’s team came right back within a couple of minutes for another score. That was the last score, leaving Corwin’s team with the win at 3-1. It was close, though — the other team took at least two shots that weren’t scores only by luck, just a foot or two off and impossible to stop.
Corwin didn’t get much action, because of the field dominance, although he had a few good blocks. I did notice that he does run somewhat tenderly. Mom is going to have him checked out to see if he’s got foot problems, as asking Corwin about it is an exercise in futility. When motivated, though, he is able to actually run.
Most of the kids were playing well. Keith in particular seemed to be having a much better game than usual this season. Josh, however, was a bit off, I don’t remember any long side drives by him. There was a lot more taking it up the middle. Whether this twas an effect of the other team’s defense or how the boys were playing wasn’t clear. The midfielders were doing a good job of booting balls from midfield back to near the goal, which was a big contribution to field dominance. Corwin’s team got called for tripping once, letting the other team have a penalty kick. Luckily that went wide without any risk of scoring.
[Alice is playing with her stuffed turkey]
Alice: If you kick a turkey down a hill, that hurts.
Mom: Turkeys get hurt that way?
Alice: Yes. I don’t do that anymore.
Mom: You used to kick turkeys down hills?
Alice: [condescendingly] Yes, that was when I was a baby. Now I don’t do that.
Mom: That’s good.
[Dinner time, when the whole family gets together to irritate each other]
Dad: So, after supper, Charles and I will take a nap?
Mom: Charles has to finish his violin [practice].
Charles. I want Timmy.
Mom: You don’t need Timmy to do violin.
Charles: But it’s his birthday!
Mom: You told me it was Timmy’s birthday yesterday.
Charles: That was Sharky’s birthday.
Mom: You can take a nap with Timmy after you do your violin.
Dad: Hey, I say that since it’s Timmy’s birthday, we let him play Wii all by himself, with no one else bothering him.
Alice: Wiiiiiiiiiiii!
Dad: Yes, just Timmy, and nobody. Doesn’t that seem like a good idea?
Mom: Yes.
Alice can type her name but still disputes the presence of the terminal letter ‘E’. We had a bit of an argument about that, which I had mostly forgotten until I picked up Alice from daycare. She took me over to show me her name tag, confident that it would prove Dad wrong by demonstrating the complete lack of the letter ‘E’ at the end of her name. Sadly, there it was, plain as day.
Alice: See, there is no ‘E’ there.
Dad: Yes there is.
Alice: No there’s not.
Dad: What’s this right here, then?
Alice: That’s not an ‘E’.
Dad: Yes it is.
Alice: No!
Dad: What is it then?
Alice: Not an ‘E’.
Dad: Ah.
I will grant that it was a lower case ‘e’, but still — what does it say for our relationship if my own daughter doesn’t trust me to identify alphanumeric characters?
Yesterday was Corwin’s school play. They had to perform it three times, once for the younger kids at the school, once for another school’s little kids, and once for the parental units. Just to make it extra special, the gymnasium in which the play was performed is not air conditioned and it’s been the warmest this week that it’s been all spring. I remembered to change in to shorts and a light shirt, which turned out to be a good choice.
The play was Cinderella — there does seem to be a bit of a trend toward plays that emphasize female leads, but the important thing is that there are still speaking roles for boys, and most importantly, for Corwin. I had been told that he had only one line, but he in fact had three. All delivered with the style and panache you expect from Corwin. He played the Herald, who along with the Arch-Duke, served as staff to the Prince. They were the unlucky one sent out to interact with the feet of all of the women in the kingdom. Surely a task that tries their soles. Haha, must stop before I write something about slippery characters, because that would be wrong. Yes, indeed.
Everything went well. The play seemed much shorter than previous years, everything finishing up within 30 minutes, which seemed quite speedy to me. I spent the whole time standing on a chair in the back taking pictures, which let me use my cool new external flash charger. It was great. The play was good too.
Mom’s wonderfully blooming garden.
One Flower
Many Flower
Tulips too
Last Monday, after soccer and various Alice activities, Mom declared that both of them had to be cleansed. Mom asked which one wanted the first bath, and they fought for the privilege until Charles suggested having a bath together, which Alice was an excellent idea. We decided to let them do that, but I think that’s probably going to be the last time. Charles is starting to get a bit old to be bathing with his sister. I let them use the last of the foam soap to make it a memorable experience. Mom wasn’t so happy with me after she saw the kind of mess that resulted from the excitement of such unrestrained soapage.
Back on Sunday, the boys participated in a violin recital that was associated with school. Technically, only Corwin was involved but Mom decided they could also play a duet in addition the Corwin’s multi-school string gang. As soon as the duet was done, Charles decided he wanted to go home, but Mom made him stay and listen to some of the other children play.
P.S. I am sure Mom has lots of other fascinating and entertaining memories, which she’d be far more likely to write up if you all contacted her and said “write up your fascinating and entertaining memories of the recital and its pre-math1!”.
1 The pre-math is the series of disasters leading up to an event, the opposite of the after-math.
Charles has been doing a lot of bike riding (he was very sad the other day when Mom wouldn’t let him ride after sunset). On Sunday he finally managed to fall off the bike in way that caused his head to impact a storm grate. He came over crying and declared that he needed a helmet. So now he wears a helmet when he rides. The bumped head teaches best!
Alice has declared that I can no longer pinch her because I am not a beetle. Only beetles are allowed to pinch people, and even then they get squished for doing it. Alice also knows of a store that doesn’t let any beetles in. It has a picture of a beetle in the window with a circle and a slash to that no beetles ever go there.I think Alice would like to go to that store, even though (as far as I know) she’s not been having any beetle problems.
We went out shopping on Friday and bought Charles some new wood for this work area. Charles had objected to the expedition from the start, and worst of all Mom made him go to Sam’s Club which for reasons that he couldn’t express through his blubbering is the most evil place to visit.
Anyway, he was happy for a little bit when we got him the wood, until we went to another store. I pointed out the negative reenforcement aspect of this behavior but Charles was not up for any sort of global optimization strategy.
Eventually Charles was released in to the domestic again from the wild and he started on a new wood project — a shield for Timmy. This made his very frustrated, I suspect because he tried to build it entirely of wood and then use it on one of Timmy’s fins. It turns out that he durability of an all wood construct made by a 7 year old is not as much as a Charles might hope. Mom suggested that Charles ask Dad for help, but Charles preferred to remain a melting puddle of boyish misery. For a while. After a couple of hours, he requested aid and I became engaged in the project. We ended up using some kevlar cord for the handle, because I had some around (it’s useful for making shock cords for rockets).
The time of Corwin’s trials has arrived. Mom had him out cutting the grass for the first time this year. Mom also had him out cleaning the back porch of all of its mold and grime so that he can help refinished it at some later (but not far distant) time. Corwin also found three four leaf clovers. Sadly, this didn’t make him lucky enough to avoid yardwork. Mom got the gardening jones and made Corwin (and the rest of us) come out an help. Corwin was set to various small tasks, like cleaning his cruft out of the back of the van and busting sod in Mom’s new target planting area. Charles and Alice got to help plant seeds. Corwin managed to find time in all this to use his fire bowl and burn stuff. I wonder if I could get him to pick up all the little sticks in the yard to feed his flames. Something to consider.
Lucky for Dad!
Alice can now type her name (although she frequently forgets what the last letter is) and knows how to use backspace to correct errors. Some of her games ask for a name and she got tired of waiting for me to type it in and gave up on just typing random characters.
Just before I left, Alice finally managed to kiss Charles. Charles, naturally, totally freaked out. Naturally Alice thought that was utterly hilarious and I suspect strongly motivated her to strike again, although she hasn’t yet as far as I know. Reminds me of her Mom, who used to be part of one of those girl gangs that would accost boys and offer them the choice of a smooch or a beating. I think you can all guess which of those Mom was responsible for administering. Alice, though, will probably find either an amusing past time.
Charles’ team won 1-0! Charles was very happy about this, “we finally won a game today!”. I think the team played better, as the other team didn’t seem to be much worse than any of the other teams they’ve played. They had two good older kids this time, plus one of the girls who is usually there did much better, and Charles had a good game, what little he played.
At first the team struggled with goal defense with Charles as goalie, but by about half way through the first quarter the opponents were just not bringing the ball over. I had a hard time getting a good action shot of Charles because he played goalie the first quarter, then defense, and basically didn’t do anything because the ball didn’t come over. One of the few times the other team got a drive started, Charles popped out in front and kicked the ball right back. That was it for Charles action in the second quarter.
The other team did do a lot of face blocking. It started with one girl getting a ball square in the cheek from a good kick. She had to be carried off the field in tears. Then another boy managed to get a ball in the face three times that I saw. He either didn’t get hit as hard or had a higher pain threshold, as he just shook them off. The first girl managed to get another face ball as well, which she shook off too, so maybe the first hit was just particularly hard.
Charles did play a bit of offense in the third quarter, but got taken out for the last quarter because we had a lot of players and he’d played all three of the first three quarters. We even loaned the other side one of ours early on to get more kids on the field. It was the case, though, that after Charles was out the other side did a lot better at getting the ball on the other side of the field. Obviously it was the lack of Charles that enervated the defense. That’s my view, completely impervious to facts.
Jack and his mom dropped by during the game because Anwen was playing on the adjacent field. Jack mocked the poor playing skills of Charles’ team and its opponent. I pointed out that he and Corwin hadn’t played much better at that age, with Jack’s mom offering “and we have photographic proof!” to drive the point home. The kids are just starting to play positions other than goalie / non-goalie, which I think is about the age (1st grade) that Corwin did as well. Maybe we should make Jack be an assistant coach to the team for a while. Heh.
Charles’ big first half play
Even though the boys had games at different times, Corwin’s was over at the soccer fields at the (almost literally) other corner of town. Mom got him and Alice there on time, and I followed as soon as Charles was done with his game. I didn’t see the beginning, which contained both scored goals, one for each. Nobody scored while I was there, leaving the result as a 1-1 tie.
The game seemed very even, with lots of shots at both goals, until the near the end, when I think our guys were tiring out and the other team started to dominate in field position, with more shots at our goal and really not any at theirs. Still, Corwin’s team held out until the final whistle. There were lots of good plays, and even some passing, although Josh tended to rely on his fancy footwork more (either because he thought it worked better, or he just like teasing the opposing players). Both goalies had to make a lot of desperate saves, and Corwin even got some action in breaking up plays and chasing after attacking players. I did notice that the boys seemed to coordinate better in that situations, often splitting up so that one defender stayed on the heals of the attacker to prevent him from having time to set up a shot, while the other broke toward the goal to help block the shot. The offense wasn’t quite as coordinated, especially near the end of the game. Some of the passing might have been inhibited by the thick defense the other team had. Maybe. Still, (for example) the opponents would frequently triple team Josh when he made a drive down the side. On the fourth hand, the coach’s work on getting them to spread out on offense was only semi-effective. Defense had some bunching problems but not as much. Overall, I would judge the level of play to be noticeably better than in Charles’ game.
Corwin’s team did suffer a couple of injuries which may have affected the end game. Both Patrick’s were knocked out of the game on injuries. The first landed badly while playing goal and had to be carried off. The other Patrick cornered too tightly and twisted his ankle a bit, but stayed in the game until he got kicked in that same ankle a little while later on another play, which took him out. Both are good players so their loss probably had a noticeable effect.
Corwin’s preferred image
Still working on hygiene with Corwin, who took a shower the other day after soccer but put his sweat soaked soccer clothes back on afterwards. The only punishment that seemed sufficiently severe was to send him back up to take another shower. It seems to have worked as he hasn’t done that again since.
Charles likes his game boy. The other day Mom decided the kids had had enough electronic stimulation for the day so she ordered all such devices powered down. Charles responded to this by getting out his game boy. Mom objected, but Charles said it was OK because the game boy wasn’t turned on. Charles then sat at the table, his game boy open and ready, but off. He’s not a total addict, though — he only lasted about 10-15 minutes before it was time for supper.
I was annoying Alice the other day by calling her “Alice-saurus”. She didn’t like that, but I pointed out that she has a stuffed Alice-saurus toy. She informed me that it wasn’t an Alice-saurus, it was a T. Rex. I said I wasn’t so sure, it looked just like her, a claim Alice vigorously denied. I asked if she could point out any actual differences. The only one she could come up with was that she had hair and the Alice-saurus didn’t. Otherwise they’re twins!
The kids did some growing while I was out in California.
The two of them now zip around on the local roads, which fortunately is very low traffic. And Alice didn’t know everything when I got back — I was able to teach her about reverse, which she decided was a neat feature. Very useful when she ran in to terrain features in her efforts to smash Charles with her car.
Corwin was slacking, as he is still not quite 5 feet tall (59½ inches).
When riders collide
Last Saturday we got to enjoy three hours of soccer in the wind, rain, and cold. Fortunately, Daddy didn’t really miss any picture taking opportunities. Charles’ team started off the day. His team had just enough players but no subs. They played valiantly, but ultimately fell to the opposing team. Charles had a few good saves during his quarter as goalie. I spent much of the time running back and forth to the van where Alice and Corwin were hanging out in the warmth.
Then Corwin’s first game started. His team came out in force with 6 extras. The other team was short, and a couple of Corwin’s team mates were sent to the other side. Corwin’s team ultimately won 4-0. Corwin got sent over for the second half and held back many of his team’s offensive runs. Josh got involved in a big tangle up and had to be carried off the field. Fortunately, it was just a sharp sting to a leg and not a break or a strain. He was back on the field for the next day.
Between games, the team huddled in the recreation building to enjoy hot chocolate and get feeling back in their extremities.
Corwin’s second game was against one of the city girls’ teams. That team was also short a few players, so a few boys were sent over to even things up. Keith in fact scored the first goal for the girls. I had to leave at the half because Charles and Alice were revolting in the van. Alice came running over the cold, muddy field in her stocking feet to complain, so I let Corwin catch a ride home with the Mara’s mom. According to Corwin, the score ended up being 2-1 with the girls’ team winning.
Alice is multi-lingual now. She will frequently babble and then tell us that she was talking in Spanish or occasionally Chinese (she sang me a song in Chinese on at least one occasion). Alice finds this a convenient way to change her mind, by declaring a previous utterance to have been in a different language, for which she now product a translation. So she was’t wrong, just misinterpreted.
Alice can also write in Chinese, which seems to consist almost entirely of partial circles and spirals. Spanish, on the other hand, is written with lots of jaggy, saw toothed lines.
On the other hand, back in English, Alice is getting close to being able to write her name:
Photo by Anwen
Today was the annual “Crop Walk”. It was a bit more disorganized than usual. Our group was dedicated to finishing as soon as possible and snuck off at the earliest possible moment (or possibly earlier) so stealthily that part of the group was left behind. A blistering pace was set, which Corwin handled well but Charles was unable to match. He and Mom dropped behind while I propelled Alice in princessy luxury. There were two stops along the way, at which we made very brief pauses. The second was brief enough that I was left behind. Corwin ran ahead to catch up but I was far enough behind that I missed a turn and had to go back and cach up with Mom, one of the other group mambers having stolen my map. On the other hand, because of their need for speed, they didn’t get any of Mom’s fresh backed chocolate chip cookies. On the other hand, it did mean that Corwin got to walk with 6 cute young girls and no other boys, which apparently was more important than cookies…
Charles complained bitterly near the end, dragging on slower and slower. He melted down at a point where the path crossed itself because we didn’t wimp out and take the short cut back to the starting point. We made him do the full circut, 6 miles, despite his weariness and his backpack with a water bottle. Our judgement was proven when, within 20 minutes of arriving home, Charles was bouncing around once again. Alice declared that she wasn’t tired at all, despite having napped for almost the entire time.
I made it back from California. It was hectic, way too much partying with various people, mostly graduate school friends of Mom, who asked “why didn’t S—— come out instead?”. I finally called it a week on Friday and just had dinner by myself. The next day I got up at 5:30 AM to catch an 11AM flight. That was probably a bit too early, but with all of the scares about canceled flights and no assigned seating, I figured it might be safer that way. Mom’s comment was “what else would you be doing?” — well, sleeping for one. The line for airport security was awsome. It stretched out of the ticketing area, past stairs and out in to the parking garage, where it had to double back to accomodate everyone. In the end it was about 30-40 minutes to get through and in to the waiting area. After that it was just waiting and flying until I got home at 9PM. Alice welcomed me home, and the boys noted my arrival in passing. I brought home some goodies for the kids, which they thought were OK except for Alice, who really liked her new bowl with a kitty face on the inside.
The kids and I have been surviving without Daddy, but being the single parent for a week certainly has its challenges.
Alice so far is the only one that has commented on Daddy’s absence. She even insisted on talking to Daddy on the phone for a bit one evening. I assume the boys noticed that he is missing. They are just more stoic.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be the most challenging day. Three hours of soccer tomorrow morning. The high of the day is forecast to be 45 degrees and the fields are always nice and windy. No Daddy to leave the soccer watching to while Alice and I escape to someplace warm.
I made it out to California. I visited the J-Clan, who moved out here a year or so ago. They kept me up way past my bed time, so that I was in extra good shape the next morning for the first day of the conference.
But you don’t care about that, so a kid story…
A week or two ago, Charles managed to rip holes in both Sharky and Timmy. He was very sad, but luckily Mom was able to perform some surgery and both were making a full recovery. Until the day before I left, when Timmy sprang another leak. Charles was extra sad because he was without Timmy again and, due to our frantic trip preparations, Mom was unable to immediately perform emergency surgery. Timmy was put in an intensive care unit (shelf) until after I was gone. I wonder how he’s doing. Timmy, I mean. Charles will be fine.
Timmy’s first surgery, Dr. Mom operating
Today was a frantic day, trying to get our company’s product in a shippable state while also packing so that I can leave for California for a week in the morning.
That mean not enough interaction with the kids for anything good, so here’s a couple of pictures to make it look like I was an involved parent (you are all so easily fooled!)
Charles is sad, after his car didn’t win
So Alice decides to affect Charles because that would cheer him up, right?
I thought I would get to watch Charles’ game today, as Corwin was originally not scheduled to have one. Corwin’s coach, however, managed to get a game together with the older (grade 7-8) girls’ team, which is coached by Mario, a former co-worker of Mom and Dad. Late in the game, Mara made her appearance so it was very difficult to give Charles’ game the attention it deserved (Mom stayed home to catch up on some work stuff, in preparation for my trip next week).
Anyway, Corwin had a reasonable game. I didn’t think he played as well as last week, but he had some good saves in and there’s nothing that wouldn’t be better with some more running. The boys won, 2-0, but it was a good game and the girls were very competitive. The boys were mostly dominant the first half, although the girls took a few serious runs at the goal. Both goals were scored in a period of just a few minutes, I think later in the first half. The first was a good one, a nice power shot from inside the goal box. The second was due to the girls’ goalie falling while trying to block a shot. The ball rolled over and one of the boys popped it in.
By the second half, though, and particularly the last quarter, the girls were really pressuring the boys’ goal. The boy goalie was getting a work out. Lots of good plays and some excellent saves on both sides. It might have been because Mara showed up around then, as a ringer.
Still, the boys were doing an excellent job of passing and spreading out on the attack.
Charles’ game did not go so well, again. I think it was 1-3 or something like that game. I didn’t watch nearly as much of it as I should have. Charles doesn’t seem to mind too much. He did seem to not be in the game as much as last time, although when I asked about that Charles was uninformative, and it may have just been my inattention. Charles definitely strengthens the defense, but he’s not so good about pressing home attacks on the opponent’s goal. Still, he’s getting more aggressive so there’s hope for the future.
Contrary to expectations, Corwin has returned to the JuiceMan. A little less ginger was used, although the result wasn’t particularly enticing. Mom thinks Corwin used too many different ingredients (at 5 or 6) and would perhaps do better to focus on a main flavor with just a couple additives.
P.S. Everyone notice the lovely tilework in the background, all hand done by Mom.
Charles hit a big development milestone today — Corwin gave his old game boy to Charles. Corwin upgraded to a DS at Christmas but Charles wasn’t much interested in the game boy previously. Today, that all changed, and Corwin showed Charles how to play Pokemon. I suspect that a big reason for the change is that Charles can read now, which makes playing games with text instructions a bit easier.
[Dad gets up from supper to get some beverage]
Mom: Can you grab some napkins?
Dad: Yes, I can grab napkins.
Mom: Would you grab some napkins?
Dad: Yes, dearest one.
Alice: Not me, Daddy! You talking to Mommy.
We found out today that Alice can get a yogurt cup out of the refrigerator, open it, and get a spoon and take everything to the table.
Alice has also been working on her head injuries, although not quite the family traditional way. Last week I was working on her hair and notice that she had abrasions in a big circle on her forward, hidden under her hair. She “did it at school” was all I could get out of her. This week she scraped up her nose by not watching where she was going and falling down. She doesn’t seem very traumatized, as despite her normal desire to chat about her day, we don’t find out about these incidents unless we noticed her tattered condition.
