Even when it's not what I would have done

It's important for me to be consciously thankful.

Thing 1 is very very cooperatively playing with her little sister so I can set up my new classes online. Schoolwork is done; folks are scattered around, and I'm sitting in my room and working. My focus isn't great -- I do better if I'm locked into a room in the library with few distractions outside the ones in my head -- but I can manage in this quiet, darkened space.

The two at home have been doing different kinds of things to play, from bouncing a ball, to reading, to tickling, to hide and seek, all outside of my area. Then I heard, "Let's play you chase me and try to catch me," and Thing 1 then zips past my bedroom, through the kitchen, through the little ones' bedroom, through the bathroom, and like a pair of young buffalo, they career through my "work space."

A moment of irritation -- this isn't what I had in mind, and I'm so not good at multitasking. And then I look at them and hear the hilarity. She's really trying to cooperate.

Plus, the thirteen year old wears out. Immediately after, I heard this exchange, "Let's play I lie on the floor and you be quiet."