5:22pm

Ross is setting the table, under duress - it's his brother's chore. Lars is writing lines like a madman or, at least, when he he can. He has so far been daunted by a broken pencil, a lost eraser, a banged knee and - Chris' favorite - itchy eyes. He's up to 62 "I must not carve on furniture" lines out of a prescribed 100, which was negotiated down to 90 while we were cuddling on the gurney when his stitches were put in. Do I lose a point for writing off 10% of a punishment to a kid who's given himself investigatory surgery with an iron radiator?