Sam was straightening the bedroom and I was burying myself further beneath the pile of blankets, promising as I did so, to drag my ailing self out from under them in just one more minute.

From the kitchen, we heard Ruby exclaim, “Aw, mAAAAAn! What HAPpen my balOOn?!?”

And so began the explanation about a gas called helium and how, over time, it escapes through the rubber of the balloon.

Not much interested, the child then schooled her father on precisely how to make her morning toast.

“PeaNUT and jELLy, cuT eet apahhht, Dadaaaaa!”

We all learning.