The sink!
James is making great progress with the whole trips-to-the-potty thing but the hand-washing side is still kind of hit-and-miss. He does better than many, though, so we'll leave it at that.
Today the two of us were hanging out colouring and he up and runs off to the bathroom. I know what that means, so I followed him along. By the time I caught up he was mostly finished (yes, I'm slow getting up from sitting cross-legged on the floor while colouring ...) but we're going to call it a 100% success. So then he pulled up his pants and I said he should go wash his hands.
This is where things went a bit off the rails.
He walked over to the sink and placed his mouth firmly on the edge of it, then licked the rim. I probably over-reacted, but whatever, you need to act quickly sometimes.
"James, don't! Don't lick the sink, it's not clean, buddy!"
James stops and thinks about this for a moment. "Because it's dirty!"
I considered this briefly and though it best to just agree. "Yeah, that's right, the sink is dirty. You can wash you hands in it, but you shouldn't touch it and you shouldn't lick it." I turned on the water for him.
He seemed pretty pleased with this so he announced, "Now I need to wash my tongue!" and he started scooping water into his mouth and rubbing his fingers over his tongue.
I did that. That was my fault. I'll own it.
Today the two of us were hanging out colouring and he up and runs off to the bathroom. I know what that means, so I followed him along. By the time I caught up he was mostly finished (yes, I'm slow getting up from sitting cross-legged on the floor while colouring ...) but we're going to call it a 100% success. So then he pulled up his pants and I said he should go wash his hands.
This is where things went a bit off the rails.
He walked over to the sink and placed his mouth firmly on the edge of it, then licked the rim. I probably over-reacted, but whatever, you need to act quickly sometimes.
"James, don't! Don't lick the sink, it's not clean, buddy!"
James stops and thinks about this for a moment. "Because it's dirty!"
I considered this briefly and though it best to just agree. "Yeah, that's right, the sink is dirty. You can wash you hands in it, but you shouldn't touch it and you shouldn't lick it." I turned on the water for him.
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| The sink in question. Not the dirtiest thing in the house, probably. |
I did that. That was my fault. I'll own it.
Their minds do not work the same a ours. Rejoice while this is still true although the results are sometimes gross.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, challenging his immune system is a good thing!
Y'know, I was talking with Christine after about this and really I think he was approaching it in a very logical fashion. We've explained to him many, many times that if he doesn't wash his hands after touching something dirty he could get sick. So now I told him not to touch the sink, he confirmed it was "dirty" and so why wouldn't you wash your tongue if that's what touched the sink? :-D
DeleteWe'll get around to disease vectors and the ways viruses and bacteria can enter the body eventually, but I'm good with just knowing so far he's able to take a set of rules and extrapolate from them. Sharp kid, that.