Whenever I stay at Mary's I find little computer fixes to do. I have so far not done much about her power-starved laptop, but I managed to clean up the desktop computer and get the printer working. And download music to her Shuffle. This morning I scanned some pictures she wants to put into a four-pic frame, so they are ready to order from a local drugstore. In this way, and in cooking meals sometimes, I feel I earn my keep, so to speak.
Yesterday afternoon Joey brought two friends home. One is in his class and was one of the two girls I worked with Monday, together, at his school. The other was her sister. Alexis and Desire (that's how they spelled the names). They first wanted to go to the girls' house, so I got the phone number and an explanation of where they live, and they took off. They returned about an hour later and played here until past seven. I added to the activity by creating a few balloon animals. They were all over the house: on the computer, in the living room playing board games, in the backyard playing with the hose, and more. I find this sort of thing exhausting, honestly, and wonder why it is that other parents are always sending their children to Joey's house and not having the guts to have them in their homes.
When Mary got home she eventually offered to take the girls home because they had no set time to be there. I thought it was a stroke of genius to offer like that, given that they would have stayed the night otherwise. She made an attempt to meet the mom but the mom wouldn't come out of the house. Mary is doing the right thing, in any case, trying to get to know the families.
Mary is off at the gym this morning, doing a "core" class. I am about to limp up the stairs to see if I can roust a little boy.
