As they pack up to leave

An Expedia itinerary

A St. Francis Hospital discharge summary protocol

An In Style Magazine with Sandra Bullock on the cover

Leggos, big ones, surprisingly not all over the place

Bibs, dirty

Many ping pong balls and similarly-sized wiffle balls in corners of the living room, dining room, kitchen, and family room

At least 7 empty matzah or cake meal cans* used to play the Grand Prize Game (that's why there are so many wiffle balls). If you're too young for Bozo the Clown, you can't possibly get this.

a high chair piled high with things that don't go on a high chair, like Passover Hagaddahs and sweaters

many paper plates, some clean

cognac, barely touched

many, many aluminum foil containers of varying sizes, strewn earlier around a one-year old toddler who is now asleep in her bed

an inside-out long-sleeved forest green striped shirt, size 4

a lime-green pair of cargo pants, size 4. Empath Daught: I couldn't resist these.

A tie-dyed burnt sienna and gold body suit, sized 12 mos., from India, a present from Uncle Bean to H-squared, but it's too small. Which is totally a shame.

Jonathan Safron Foer's second novel, how could you be surprised, he is my favorite author. It boggles my mind that one person can be so young and yet so psychologically brilliant.

sherry, kosher of course, not all that good, no where near as as good as the wine my father made in our basement, also hardly dented for obvious reasons

A car seat and 2 "child" seats. They had neither in my day. How did I make it?

A Reader that begins, "Who baked the cake?"

One of those toy vacuum cleaners that seconds as a popcorn popper.

More leggos.

More books, mostly about Spider Man, no one knows why.

A very small apple on a stuffed chair, Jonathan

sippy cups, 4 of them, some with apple juice, some grape juice, all dangerous if left unattended for too many days

2 magna doodles, one with a Pixar Toy Story book attached

Hungry Hippos. I know, the noise did do me in.

2 vases of wilted flowers with that crud that builds up on the inside

water bottles with varying amounts of left-over water

machzors and a sefira counter (you don't want to know)

Several neck ties.

Oh, that's enough. My voicemail messages sound urgent. Mainly did I get the LAST messages about the cancellations? So the 11 people I had on my schedule for today (it is 1 a.m. as I write this) have shrunk to 8, and I've learned there are 2 very nervous people who do not trust that I receive voicemail if I don't return their messages, even though my voicemail clearly says, I probably won't get to returning your messages. But who can blame them for being nervous?

*cake meal is a "fake" flour that some of us use on Passover' I know no more than this.

Sure. I'm looking forward to eating chometz (bread, or anything with flour given half a chance to rise), as soon as I get an appetite (I'm so stuffed). It's been a long 8 days.

Thank G-d.

Copyright 2007, TherapyDoc