OVERHEARD

On the way to school this morning, having finished his oatmeal before his sister (a feat in an of itself), he busily munches on a handful of animal crackers when Saia very politely asks him if she can have one.

"Okay [this is his new thing]," he replies, "Would you like the lion or the zebra, Waia [which he's taken to calling her these days]?" But before she can answer, he qualifies his offer saying, "Welllll...the lion has no tail, but the zebra has no head. Which one do you like more?" he says as he holds them up to demonstrate his point. "The zebra," she says nonchalantly [as it's never really mattered to her which end she starts to chomp on]. "Okay," he replies, "here you go."

And I can see him in the rearview mirror handing over the decapitated zebra and her stretching across the way with her sticky [because they're ALWAYS sticky] oatmeal encrusted hands. "Thank you, Santiago [which she's taken to calling him because they call him by his full name at school]." "You're welcome, Waia," he replies as he shoves the remaining tail-less lion into his mouth. And they munch quietly and happily the rest of the way to school.

Hard to believe that just 45 minutes ago I was prying her off of him as she shoved his head into the carpet while he yanked on her hair and screamed bloody murder, isn't it?