Friday, August 29, 2008

Home Stretch

It's the Friday before Labour Day. Summer vacation is almost over. The kids have been home all week because for some reason, there is no camp the last week of vacation, just when beleaguered parents need it most.

Today, my children are engaging in an ongoing insult contest. Zohar is now wailing because her unusually benign toast, "Cheers to God!" (don't ask me where that came from -- she is usually an atheist), prompted Jacob to respond with "Cheers to Zohar being a baby." Normally, he'd get in trouble for that but seeing as Zohar called him an octopus head just a few minutes ago, I thought it best to let it pass. Zohar is now in her room sobbing because I didn't punish her brother. I am trying to maintain my stated policy of ignoring everything but blood.

Anyone who would like to rent some children for the long weekend, please e-mail me at eden.nameri@thomsonreuters.com. No reasonable offer refused.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tooth on the Loose

Since I last posted anything on the LWG blog, I have been to New York and back twice, my brother and I gave my dad away at his wedding and I traveled to the UK to meet a long-lost uncle for the first time. All in all, it's been an interesting summer. To cap it all, yesterday, Zohar discovered her first loose tooth.

The fact that this is a big deal to my five-and-a-half-year-old will not be a surprise to anyone who remembers the thrill of wiggling a tooth until it was ripe for harvesting by the Tooth Fairy. Despite the fact that a loose tooth leads to its possessor sticking fingers in mouth dozens of times a day, it is a badge of maturity -- the grade-school equivalent of needing a shave.

For a parent, the filling in of a baby's gummy smile with hard, shiny little nubs is already quite an adjustment. The endearing gaps left by fallen baby teeth are filled all too soon with oversized teeth that shout "You should have chosen the Gold dental plan!"

According to J. M. Barrie, one of the things that made Peter Pan so enchanting was that he still had all his baby teeth. Now, as she grows up, Zohar will be dropping pearls before Time.