Natasha was playing on her bed today, flopping backwards onto her pillow. After a while she misjudged and fell into her headboard instead (there was a nasty crack).

For a while she could only cry while I held her, and wouldn’t answer my how-are-you-feeling question.

“Can you see okay?” I asked, trying a different tack. She nodded. “How about when you hit your head?”

“When I hit my head it really hurt, and my eyes twinkled.”

“Are they twinkling now?”

“No, not any more.”

///

Back on Tuesday the girls were at Ruth’s house while I was in class.

Ruth was sort of surprised at Natasha, because she’d been hitting and throwing things. When she threw a spoon into the lake Jon had to use a rake to get it out.

At that point Natasha said, “I’m ornery tonight. I didn’t get a good nap.”