Kate is in New York

Sydney, eight months old tomorrow, repeatedly tried (and failed) to mug me for my watch, today. She’s got a lot to learn about stealing things from people. Namely, operating buckles.

Carlos, coming up on 18 years old, has inflammatory bowel disease and something awry with his kidneys. He’s losing weight, slowly but inexorably. He’s the Cheshire Cat: he’s making his body slowly vanish in front of our eyes.

Piper, three years old, has taken to narrating her own actions as a fairy story, especially when around her sister.  “The baby fairy was crying,” Piper said, while Syd wailed in her car seat six inches away, “and so the sister fairy went to put her shoes on. ‘Let’s go to the castle!', she said to her sister.”  And so on.