Monday, November 17, 2008

Ethan takes revenge

On any given day, I can find Ethan wandering around the house like this:

This child has a special affinity for his toothbrush.



All my children, actually, love brushing their teeth. It's kind of strange to me...when I say, "Okay, guys, time to brush our teeth!" they get all excited, and race to the bathroom. You would think that I had said, "Okay, guys, time to go to the park!" by the way they react. It's really quite a site.



Ethan, however, is a bit different.



He seems to not be able to stop brushing his teeth.



Now, until recently, I haven't minded this. I would give him his toothbrush when we went in the bathroom, and he would just brush to his little heart's content. No harm, right? He would brush for probably 10 minutes (more if we allowed him), until we actually physically pried the toothbrush out of his little death grip took his toothbrush away from him.



However, now he is actually able to open doors himself (ugh). He is also a fantastic climber.


All of that means that now, he is able to go down the hall, open my bedroom door, then open my bathroom door, push the stool over to the sink, climb up on the stool, reach the toothbrushes (all of them--not just his, by the way) and brush away.





Like I said before, I wouldn't mind this. Really, I wouldn't. Except for two things:


1. Ethan has no discrepancy as to which toothbrush he uses. He might grab Col's, or Daddy's, or mine....it makes no difference to him. That one that he is using in the above pictures is actually Cameron's. (We actually found him one day this week wandering the house with one toothbrush in his mouth, and four more--all of the remaining family members'--in his hands.)


Now, I'm quite sure that reactions on that one will range from the 'that's mildly icky' to the 'I am extremely grossed out by that'--the whole sharing-a-toothbrush-with-someone-else thing--but, personally, I don't find this to be that big of a deal. I mean, my kids have been slobbering and puking on me for years now--I can handle a bit of spit swap every once in a while.


However, even with that being said, this is certainly not something I would want to become a habit.


2. The fits he throws when I tell him that we are all done brushing teeth. Case in point, what happened today when I told him exactly that:



I mean the throw-yourself-down-on-the-floor-and-scream-like-there's-no-tomorrow kind of fits.


But, today.....my-oh-my. Today, it got even better.



Today, my sweet little baby, who is not even two yet, decided to actually take revenge on his mean ol' Momma for not letting him continue brushing.



He left my bedroom (after recovering from his fit) in a seemingly good mood. Everything seemed fine.



Until, not 20 seconds later, I heard a crash.



"What on earth?!" I thought.



Camera still in hand, I ran out into the living room to see this:




That little stinker had--purposefully and with malicious intent, no doubt-- knocked my ficus tree over. All by himself. And, did you notice? He was smiling about it!



Smiling about it, that is, until he saw me in the corner of the room. In an instant, his expression changed. His lip pooched, and he became 'sad' at what he had done. Yeah. Right.




Whoever thinks young children aren't just as smart as adults, and they don't know exactly what they are doing, needs to come live at my house for a day. My littles would change their mind in 24 hours flat. Or less. Guaranteed.




9 comments:

Julie said...

I was just telling the fam that Ethan and the Jib would get along swimmingly. (And then Ande made fun of me for using the term "swimmingly") Jib, too, is addicted to "brushy teef". And she doesn't care whose brush she uses, either. There is also tremendous fit throwing if "brushy teef" is stopped before she is good and ready.

The malicious knocking down of the ficus tree made me laugh out loud. Not because I'm laughing AT you (okay, well maybe a LITTLE), but because I can totally relate.

We really need to live closer together.

Julie said...

Oh, and I'm not terribly grossed out by the sharing of toothbrushes, either.

Nancy said...

I could not stop laughing!! Not because it was so unbelievable, but because it was TOTALLY believable!! My 2-almost-3 year old loves to brush his teeth and will cry if we don't have time. "I brush teef now" is a phrase we hear frequently! Loved the ficus tree revenge, too! That kind of thing has *never* happened around here! ;)

Sharon said...

Both Colby and Eli have loved to carry their toothbrushes around. It never bothered me, except that recently Eli carries his to all parts of the house. I then cannot find it and have to search. I am about falling out of my chair from laughing as I read this and look at your pictures. I would agree even at a very young age children know exactly what they are doing. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you:)

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness that is so very, very funny. I love coming here, I get such a kick out of your kiddos!

Mamasita Chimichanga said...

Dev...that Ethan is a cutie! My favorite pic has got to be the 4th one of him brushing his teeth at the sink! TOO CUTE! I mean...Hello? Colgate? This is advertisement material! HA! Enjoyed your post....I am totally relating...my boys are in that carrying toothbrushes around the house phase too! Got to LOVE the things they come up with!

Elyse said...

Oh my goodness...I found your blog through the Murray family :) Your boys are precious and adorable.
~Elyse~

Kathy said...

Oh my goodness! That little poo bear!

I can so relate! My boys love to brush their teeth...ending the teeth brushing session is always a battle!

Thank goodness you don't have your Christmas tree up. You might have to nail it down :)

(I was totally picturing the Incredible Hulk saying "you don't want to see me when I'm angry."..Yes I am dork).

That boy is too cute! His track suit is supa' fly! :)

Much love girl...

Kirst said...

I wish my kids liked brushing their teeth. It is such a struggle for us.

I love Ethan's little old school track suit. So cute!