After years of parenting, that expression means one thing: pets

ASI pull into the carpool line, I spot Pinny vigorously waving a Snapple bottle. His eyes are gleaming, his smile wide. My heart sinks. After years of parenting, that expression means one thing: pets.

This has been a tension at home for years. The kids want a pet; we do not. But they don’t let that (minor) fact act as a deterrent. Their parents might not officially go to a pet shop and buy them a pet, but that doesn’t stop them. There are dozens of free pets lurking across the neighborhood, waiting for the love and devotion that only a Needleman kid can bestow upon them.

And as expected, my hunch was correct.

Pinny leaps into the car and shows me what’s inside the Snapple bottle. Somehow, the knowledge that I guessed right doesn’t make the situation any better.