Today was a great day. Arko came to visit. We haven’t seen him since the day, over a year ago, when Juss cried the hardest I’ve ever seen him cry because he couldn’t hear Arko anymore.

I think Arko came by because I’ve been reading Juss Peter Circus Clown, the book my mom wrote when she was four (okay, she told to her mom). I don’t know why I never thought of reading this to the boys when they were three or four, it would have been perfect then.  What a lost opportunity!

Still, it was nice to have Arko around again. He’s homeschooled now, Juss tells me, because he’s "too cool for school."  Juss would love to be homeschooled, especially at Arko’s school, where they learn by playing learning video games.

Some things are really hard to explain to one’s teenage daughter who doesn’t speak much English, like who Arko is (I don’t know the Chinese word for "invisible brother") and why she has a stuffed parrot doll for an older brother. (Ixion was our "child" before the flesh and blood children came along. He’s a bit muffed from play with his younger siblings, so we moved him into our room where Ping-Ping found him. When I explained he was her gogo (older brother) she certainly thought I didn’t understand the words I was saying. ;-)