Chelmsford, Massachusetts to Canastota, NY

Today we left Chelmsford, Massachusetts for Portland, Oregon.  This time we are ensuring that we will bypass Texas by routing our trip through Canada.  

As a Massachusetts native, I know the roads in that state like the back of my hand.  I convinced Eric that we should take Route 2 instead of the Massachusetts Turnpike in order to save the $2 toll and see more of the Berkshires.  I assured him it was a two-lane highway and would add only about 10 or 15 minutes to the trip.    It is a two-lane highway for about 10 or 15 minutes and you do see more of the Berkshires.  Round about North Adams, after we'd had close and personal views of every collapsing roof of every rustic barn along the 25 mph one-lane construction-peppered Sunday-driver-laden switch-backed mountain road, Eric gently observed that Route 2 was less like a highway than he'd expected.  I know now why James Taylor goes "from Stockbridge to Boston."  "The Berkshires seem dreamlike," so he takes the Mass Pike.

We ate at Flo's Diner in Canastota, NY.  You don't starve at Flo's.  I had the roast pork.  I think they gave me the whole pig.  Liam and Kai each received a serving bowl of macaroni that was bigger than their heads.  If we can find enough ice, we can eat leftover mac and cheese all the way to Montana.

We've been working on table manners at restaurants lately.  I knew when I had kids that someday I would be lecturing on using your fork instead of your fingers, saying 'please' and 'thank you' to the server, and the virtues of starting with "Please pass...."  We've also covered the advantages of using your napkin instead of your shirt, taking bites small enough to fit in your mouth (and emergency measures if it doesn't), sitting at the table instead of under it, sitting at your own table instead of the table of someone who looks more interesting than your parents, and making the stuff that your straw is in go into your mouth instead of the other way.

Tonight I was at a complete loss.  Between the dinner and dessert courses at Flo's, Kai yanked his top front tooth out.  What's the general etiquette?  A strict "Keep your teeth in your mouth until after dinner" rule? is it more like a burp, calling for an "excuse me"?  or like an olive pit, requiring a swift palming of the detached incisor, an unobtrusive staunching of the surprised gum?

Kai cut short my dilemma by informing the server of his dental development.  She seemed very happy for him and brought him a plastic baggie to keep it safe.  Liam advised Kai that the Tooth Fairy might not be able to find the tooth if it remained in the baggie (why not?  does she detect them by smell?).  Kai went to sleep trusting without question that the T.F. would be able to find him and his unbagged under-pillowed tooth in a Canastota, New York motel.

-Juliet