3) Aliyah (At 3 Yr. Old) (From) Affine Tree Poem by Otradom Pelogo

I think that it was about 96 or 97 that I wrote the above piece, writing about the children, though the oldest was about seven years old and now is about sixteen or seventeen, almost ten years ago. And I still see each one of them, just about whenever I'm between jobs or on vacation: Desiree, Josh, Kevin and Capt. Lil Gary (Gary Jr.) . They are all in school and growing and doing quite well. Ironically enough, Capt. Lil Gary's little sister, Aliyah, comes by just about on a daily basis after her Mom, Nija, drops her off before heading to work and taking Capt. and the oldest of his two little sisters (Maya) to school.

Aliyah is three years old and Maya, I think is seven, one year younger than Capt. Of course, Aliyah is too young to go to school yet, so my mother, Hilda and sister, Barbara, help babysit her, and which it takes just about the both of them since she is literally what you would say as being a handful.

I'm usually on the couch ninety percent of the times, just having fallen asleep if not still working on the computer, trying to finish writing one book, while trying to edit another, and by the time that she will have arrived this morning, I will have, within a week's time period, just about submitted all three of them to the publisher. So I usually see her when she first arrives in somewhat of a fairyland daze of the between waking up and falling asleep. She usually stands there, also deciding to either finish her morning nap or finish waking up and turn on the TV and watch cartoons, as I do the same, but putting the pillow upon made head to block out light and noise for a little while.

I have found that it can be very challenging to write about a three year old, just as it was trying to write about her older brother, Capt., at the age of one when he first started to come over. I have incorporated her and her sister (as I did Capt. and the others) into one of the books that I'm writing as a girls band called Femele, and maybe working it out in the next book in more detail and of course with having gotten to know them a little bit better, putting the pieces together as they do more or more humorously, grow more. Though I could write about the time after opening up my eyes and seeing her standing there and finding the remote control and finding one of her favorite cartoons on TV, whether it be Sponge Bottom Square Pants or Jimmy Neutron or reading one of her favorite books that she brings with her where the Cookie Monster eats all of his cookies on the day of his birthday… then being surprised when Big Bird, Grover, Ernie and Bert bring him cake and present. Or the enjoying of pampering to a nice little girl when she needs a drink of water or snack. Or when trying to think of something to do when she seems bored and can only think of playing house and cleaning up the living room only to find her enjoying it more than I could have imagined when by the second or third time of folding the towel, taking the time to show her how to place the edges together and finding that on the next time that she basically remembered and made an honest attempt at it. The going on a scavenger hunt in one of my unpacked suitcases and of all the things in there having her find the bag of Christmas candy that would have probably been there until next Christmas and finding myself eating as much as she had.

The other day, she (Aliyah, Maya and Capt.) came by early, after her Mom picked them up from school early Friday. Brenda had to be somewhere that particular afternoon, and they were quite exhausted (though Aliyah was already there of course) and after watching a little TV; they became somewhat restless and sleepy. The deciding between the two, led them to the couch where I, even for about half an hour, tried to teach the chords on the guitar, which they sat there patiently trying to learn. I promised them that if they would ask their mother to give them guitar lessons that I would give them one of mine. I was trying to get them to show a true interest in it by letting them play with it whenever they want to, before giving it to them to take home.

It's about two-thirty in the morning; yesterday was Sunday, so they should be well rested after having the weekend off, though trying to finish this book and submit it to the publisher by the time they get here, will have me just like each morning they stop by, somewhere in a fairyland daze as they walk into the living and try like me, to decide what to do with the rest of what usually turns out to be a beautiful day.