Buying Time: Our girl snacking on a cup of tea and biscuits right before dinner Once again fall has arrived and with it the array of coughing symphonies in the various circles of little people we keep. For ten days prior to the actual descent of the full blown symptoms, I could see the writing on the wall. The irritability. The night time wake-ups complaining of Fires in Throats.... And finally my mother decided to sweep into town to be here for the inevitable unveiling. To make soups and read books and play crafts and most importantly to lend an ear to my astonished whispered complaints over the dizzying performance at our feet... (no matter how many illnesses have swept through our household and the drama that goes along with them, I am always surprised by the amount of emotion a child can exert when she is under the weather! and that is being put very very mildly!) My mother had timed her visit perfectly. On the way home from the airport,while Mr. Urban and my m