Teachable Moment

I think that's the term that more patient parents use whenever their children do something particularly vexing. We have our share of such moments around here, though they are not equally allocated on a per child basis - Aoife has few, due to, among other things, her limited language skills and mobility hindering significantly her efforts at sass and destruction, Conor has them fairly frequently, though given his propensity for reading while walking, brushing teeth and (turn away, safety mavens of america) skateboarding, it appears he may just not be teachable on that point, and Finn, sweet Finn, strings just enough moments of charm between his constant teachable moments that we have not yet succumbed to the temptation to send him to boarding school. Although sometimes it's close. All that being said, we are excited for summer in the Hennessey household. Aoife's plans include learning to walk and talk, Finn's include making cookies every weekend, and Conor intends to read for at least two hours a day. We're also going to the pool daily and spending nights on the street with the denizens of north Thomas. So, though all have different plans, they are united in their love for the summer, and the consequent end of school. But not so all children. One girl in particular, Ms Amy G, is enough of a fan of learning that for her summer birthday she requested the one thing she couldn't have - school. While we were not able to break into any of our local elementary educational institutions to host her party, Lisa did manage to put together a fairly nice school themed cake. I'm quite partial to the teacher's apple - it's a giant rice-krispie treat, sculpted, covered in fondant, and painted to look like a red delicious, and even my notoriously school averse boys appreciated the fondant pencil and crayons. Amy's mother (a tenacious attorney come tenacious teacher) paid the high compliment of only begrudgingly handing it over to her daughter, pointing out that this kind of cake is wasted on 8 year olds. I'm not sure if I totally agree; it's a fairly magical cake, and no one appreciates magic like an 8 year old.