He Clicks No More

The end of an era has arrived. At least it has ended for a while.

My son clicks no more.

At a very young age, my younger son, D-, developed this remarkable talent to click his tongue. You know the kind of noise I'm talking about... you place your tongue against the roof of your mouth and then pull it away quickly. The release of suction creates a distinct "click".

Well D- took that ability to a new level. He honed his click technique to the point that the noise was distinctive and quite startling... a quick, piercing pulse of noise. And loud... much louder than you can imagine. With a single click he would let everyone in the room know he had arrived.

One of his favorite pastimes was to "click" in forbidden places - churches, museums, schools - anywhere that a sudden burst of noise would reverberate to the annoyance or surprise of others. His clicking ability has gotten him into trouble... like the time he clicked in close proximity to a classmate's ear, sending the classmate crashing to the floor in utter confusion. So many times he has said, "Daddy, do you dare me to click?"

But all that has come to an end. A couple of weeks ago he had a tooth pulled and a spacer appliance installed to keep the gap between his teeth open until the adult tooth emerges. The gap created by the extraction of that one tooth and the concomitant loss of suction has rendered D-'s hearty tongue clicks into pathetic little sucking sounds.

"Ssssthhhk, sssthhhk, sssthhhk."

What can I say?
They pave paradise and put up a parking lot.
K-