Squirrels, scallow eggs and teeth

Squirrels:     Hogan found a dead squirrel in our back yard. The news of such interesting road kill travelled quickly - Buddy & Diva soon joined Hogan to investigate the corpse. Panda and Pooda were at sleep-overs and Baba was working late. That left me to dispose of the squirrel. Ugh !
     Squirrel bodies are a lot bigger than you would think and I didn't want to touch it. I tried covering it with newspaper and rocks. Hoagie, Buddy and Diva continued to paw at it. My next attempt was covering it with a yard bucket, topped by a large rock. None of these kept my animals away from it. After (an embarrassingly long amount of) a time, it occured to me to use a shovel to pick up the darn thing.
     I dumped the squirrel into the backyard garbage can. The first thing Pooda said when she looked into the can: "Mom, it was a boy squirrel!" (Male squirrels are quite well-endowed.) Between Friday and Monday, the squirrel-in-the-trash-can was popular viewing by Pooda and her 'friends who are boys, not boyfriends'.

Scallow Eggs:     It's a treat to travel alone in the car with Pooda. She is full of insightful observations and shares them freely. Not long ago, Pooda told me about her favorite TV show on Disney channel. It's called Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It seems pirates have their own lexicon and Pooda was eager to tell me some of the words pirates use.

Pooda: "Mom, one thing pirates call people is scallow egg. A scallow egg is someone who makes trouble."
Mom: "I think the word is scalliwag."
Pooda: "No, it is scallow egg."
Mom: "Okay."

Teeth:    Last week Panda complained of a sore tooth. She said it was one with the orthodontic spacer attached (upper left molar). It was a couple of days before we could get into the orthodontist office. During the wait, a bottom molar fell out.
     At the ortho's office, they decided the culprit was a neighboring tooth. It has a cavity and needs come out. They referred us to our regular pediatric dentist, who looked at the x-ray and said to to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon takes it out on Friday morning. Pooda had this surgeon remove a tooth last fall and she has assured Panda that it will be a piece of cake.
     Meanwhile, Pooda had a very loose front tooth. She wiggled & jiggled it all weekend. Monday she chewed a big wad of gum, hoping to get the tooth to fall out. The gum worked and the tooth came out. She is eagerly practicing All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.
     Last night, J-Bear called to say she lost a tooth, too. The good news is all the missing teeth are supposed to come out. They are not the kind which cost several thousand dollars to replace.