The genius of great affairs abhors nicety of division.

Wednesday (26 March 2008):

Lia and the girls went visiting teaching this morning, spending an eventful hour with Angelina Durazzo and her little boy, Joey, the former of whom Eli was to pronounce “My best friend” later in the day (“Because she’s so pretty,” Eli explained upon questioning).

At one point during the day, Lia had had more than enough of the girls’ incessant warbling and unbridled loquacity. She bid them be silent and banished them from the kitchen, where she locked the door and dedicated all her powers of concentration to the resolute ignoring of her children. The result was a brief reverie of tranquil woolgathering, from which she was at length awakened by the sound of merry voices, alternately singing and laughing. Lia followed the sound of the voices until she discovered Julia and Eli engaged in a mutual serenade of “I understand you, You understand me, / When we listen to each other”—an abominable ditty from “Beauty and the Beast II.” Their two noses were not three inches distant from each other. And Julia was seated on the toilet. One of the truly funny things about our girls is that they know how funny they are.

In the afternoon Lia took the girls for a walk to visit Kim, Elias (4), and Madeleine (2?) Thompson. The girls opted for the red plastic wagon, rather than the double jogging stroller, as their carriage of choice, which left to Lia the unenviable task of being dragged down Canner hill by an obstinate wagon and in turn dragging that same obdurate vehicle back up the same unforgiving hill. But the visit was worth the effort in its own right, and it was prefaced by the hilarity of a round of hide-and-seek in the courtyard of the Thompson’s apartment complex. Eli’s understanding of the game is that its title prescribes that one by turns (1) hide; (2) announce one’s location; and (3) pursue one’s pursuer. It’s hard not to find her.

Wednesday is always a bear for Justin, who in a quixotic attempt at remedying his arrant financial nescience is taking both corporations and tax this semester, spends four uninterrupted hours with the Delaware General Corporate Law and the United States Tax Code, successively. He had to teach Institute in the evening to revive his moribund spirit.