Jeefa

In Hebrew slang "jeefa" is gunk, dirt, yucky stuff. kids are full of jeefa. They create jeefa; they attract jeefa; they loll in jeefa. And worst of all, they LOVE jeefa. R has no problem when crawling on the bathroom floor to pick the soap-scum covered hair from the drain. She likes to scrape the grime off the floor with her fingernails. K likes to touch slugs (YUCK!). She sees nothing wrong with eating pretzels that some other kid has dropped in the sand at a playground. She doesn't even care if they are mushy with spit. My children aren't afraid of dirt, bodily excretions (theirs or someone elses). They think farts and snot are funny; so is watching the dog eat R's poop out of her diaper. Nothing is too jeefa for them.
Before I had children, I could never understand how parents could let their children walk around licking snot off their upperlips or with dirt under their fingernails or drool making a damp semi-circle on their shirts. Now I understand why. It is impossible to keep them clean. And if you try to clean them, they bare their teeth (or gums), and kick and scream until you free them again to wallow in the mud.