yes, and ...

(In the words of the title, punctuation means everything. A question mark is to be avoided.)
This week might get back to normal, as normal as pre-Christmas weeks can be. Coco should be done with his penicillin soon and Baci will soon be thought of as one of the family, not as a super-special we-don’t-really-know-you-so-we’re-a-little-on-edge visitor.
This weekend had plenty of rough spots, though.
I had one of my cleverer parenting moments, but the whole thing might have backfired, I’m not sure yet.
What was especially frustrating was that everything Julie and I said was met with a spoken “No. But.” And a silent “you idiot.”
So I proposed a “game.” Something I’ve read about. Apparently, one of the rules in Improv is to not contradict your partners. In order to further a scene, you don’t say “no” or “but,” you say “yes, and.” So I proposed it to Madge. (To all, of course, but she was the primary target.)
She was not up for it when I proposed it, but she did listen and sort of tried it later in the day. So we picked it up again.
I got her to floss her teeth, but somehow I now owe her a million dollars.
At least now she knows what a rider is.