The acts commenced on this ball of earth

A cold and gray and rainy day in New Haven. Lia and the girls braved the downpour in the morning to go buy fabric for the cocktail dress she is making for herself for Justin’s law journal banquet on Saturday (he bought her ticket before he asked her, on the theory that she was more likely to say “yes” if presented with a fait accompli than as a result of rational deliberation). Lia made impressive progress on the dress today and projects that, if the girls take good naps again tomorrow, she may finish it then. But banking on the sleeping habits of small children is more hazardous than trusting one’s personal finances to the complex derivatives market.

Justin came home from lunch to find the girls very contentedly watching “Dora” while Lia worked away at the dress. They looked so cute that Justin was powerless before Julia’s request that he watch with them for a few minutes (the show proved quite educational for the young father).

At dinner, Lia offered some water to Eli, who responded in the negative by means of an irrelevant song. Undaunted, Lia then asked Julia if she would like some water. Julia’s response was more polite, if unnervingly revealing about power relations within the family: “Yes you may,” she conceded.

Our FHE lesson was about keeping the Sabbath day holy, highlighted by a game of Pictionary in which Justin and Lia drew pictures of activities that Julia needed first to decipher and second to pronounce appropriate or not for the Sabbath. The artist eliciting correct responses most rapidly would be crowned victor. Lia scored easy hits with obvious winners like webcaming with grandparents and writing letters to missionary aunts. Justin went in for subtle negatives like playing football, and sentimental champions like singing hymns as a family inside “Eli’s cottage” (the narrow space between the rocker and the wall). When Justin and Lia asked Julia who had won she looked at her parents uncomprehendingly for a moment before livening up to ask what the treat was (toast with pomegranate jelly from Nin).

Another highlight of the day was when Eli, more often self-cast as a princess, wrapped her yellow blanket around herself like a head shawl, stuck her ebullient little face through an opening and announced sweetly, "I'm Mary!" Actually, Julia explained knowingly, Elisabeth was Mary's cousin.