Will You Brush My Teeth?

Now, if I was surprised by the stark differences in Nikki's kids compared to mine, you can bet that Nikki was just as surprised the other way around.  Her kids were very independent and self-sufficient, while my kids asked permission for absolutely everything.  I don't know if this is a personality thing, or the fact that they spent most of their time with a male, or the fact that I was ex-military... who knows?  But I certainly never told them to ask for permission to use the bathroom.  Things like that got really annoying.

I did, however, with Nikki's help, realize that it may be time to let up on the reigns a bit with my kids.  One instance in particular that brought this to light was when Lucas asked her to brush his teeth before bed.  He was six years old at the time.

I have always been a bit of a control freak, and dental care was no exception to this.  I always helped my kids brush their teeth before bed when they were little, but this practice admittedly extended quite a bit longer than was necessary.  But of course, my kids - with their complete lack of independence - never said to me, "Dad, I can brush my own teeth now!"  Nevertheless, reality struck me like lightning when Lucas asked Nikki, "Will you brush my teeth?" and she responded, "Oh, my God, you are six years old!  Brush your own teeth!"

Even funnier than this was Lucas' response: he just stared at her with this complete look of bewilderment, like this was the last thing he expected her to say.  Then he looked at me - I was halfway between embarrassment and laughter - and I said, "She's right. You need to be brushing your own teeth."  And he did, from then on.

And while we are on the subject of teeth brushing...

On a different occasion, I was visiting Nikki (this was before our kids met each other) and her kids were getting ready for bed.  I was on the couch watching television, but I had a clear view into the bathroom.  They were in there messing around, flicking water at each other, etc, and I was just watching them and smiling.  They were much more entertaining to watch than the program that was on TV.  However, not one of them touched a toothbrush.  Then Nikki called out from the kitchen, "Did you kids brush your teeth?" and in unison, they cried out, "Yep!"

Well, I was not going to allow them to pull the wool over her eyes, so I went into the kitchen and told her that no one had brushed their teeth.

"WHAT?????"

She stormed into the bathroom and looked at their toothbrushes, and they were dry as chalk.  As a gale of motherly fury crashed over them like a tidal wave, they were probably thinking that they didn't like me hanging around so much anymore, for I had foiled their clever and brilliant plan!

An amusing footnote to this story...

The next day, I was helping Nikki unclog her bathroom sink.  I could tell that something plastic was jammed in there, possibly a toy.

It was, in fact, a toothbrush!

I Want That Silly String!

One of the things that has fascinated me about our children is how different they are in their personalities.  For example, my kids seem to have a healthy sense of "self-preservation," or just a general fear of getting hurt.  Her kids do not seem to possess this quality at all.  My kids would stick their toe in the water first - her kids would dive right in with a full belly-flop.

The child who is probably the most afflicted with this unhealthy lack of fear is Mason.  He must have an entire legion of guardian angels looking after him. 

One day, when Mason was about eight years old, he was playing with a can of Silly String, and the nozzle broke.  So, without the little contraption to release the pressure in the can, there was no more string.  "Ah," but Mason must have thought, "the string is still IN the can, so I'll just get it out!"  Awesome idea, right? Get the whole pile of string out at once!  Well, Mason was mistaken, first of all to think that it was just a big spool of string in a can, but he also did not understand the phrase CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE!

He went into my shop, got himself a hammer and a screwdriver, and... I think you know where this is going...

BOOM!!!!!!!!

Whatever that substance is inside the can was now all over the ceiling and the walls, and not string-like at all.  It looked kind of like someone put a stick of dynamite inside a Nerf football.  Mason was very shaken by this, and we explained to him how fortunate he was not to have lost an eye - like I said... lots of guardian angels. 

We also had a little discussion about aerosol cans.