Thursday, July 17, 2008

Will power

My son and I share a toothbrush. Yes, I know. Yes, yes, I know that too. Mum, we gave him the worm medication already. I know. Yes, I KNOW dammit. It's disgusting. I spend a lot of time washing it before either of us use it. I spend more time, however, charging it up.

The spud's obsession with pressing anything that looks like it might be a button (which means stopping at every car we pass on the street to press the headlamps, the indicators, and, oh yes, try the door handles once or twice) means that eventually, he's gotten around to pressing every button in the house. He started with the obvious ones, exploding the CD player, tearing apart my laptop, sticky fingers all over the telephones... but then he moved on to less obvious things... the bedside lamps, the book light, the buttons on the sofa cushions... finally he resorted to examining anything that came his way and pressing any mark just in case it was a hidden button.

One evening when faced with his little baby 'first toothbrush' he demanded mine and, broken I suspect by a long Battle of the Bath, I gave it to him as a distraction and there in my lap after pressing every part of it at least twice, he turned it on. In an attempt to dissuade him, I brushed my own teeth with in and watched in horror followed by relief as he tried to put it in his own mouth and pulled away in shock. Our son, however, is nothing if not dogged and now, a few months later, he will happily spend five minutes frothing up the bathroom brushing his own teeth with the electrics turned on.

On the list of things we'd like him to imitate in the bathroom, using the electric toothbrush was probably pretty far down the list. What was perched precariously at the top was 'potty training' however we're not having much luck. It's not that he doesn't know what it is he has to do as he's perfectly happy to run naked to the potty, sit down, fart, laugh and then stand up again. It's not, he wants us to know, that he doesn't understand, it's that he just can't be bothered.

We don't mind. Not really. Not specifically. It's just that we have no idea what else he can do that he is simply not bothering about and so whenever he goes quiet for longer than a minute we are running in to see what he's up to and I, frankly, am shattered.

night night...

15 comments:

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

I was thinking of getting myself one of those vibrating tooth brushes, electric ones, whatever, but then I was afraid JOnathan would want it.

Now I know he would and it will remain in the store.

Very funny post...especially about the potty training! Jonathan won't even fart yet! :-)

Anonymous said...

Buy yourself another toothbrush kiddo and go with it. If he is cleaning his own teeth you are streets ahead.

Re the potty, he doesn't care because he is too comfortable and he sees kids twice his age in nappies. He will eventually get around to it when the joke gets tiresome.

The only thing more creepy than a house in total silence with one child in it and that is two.

Anonymous said...

deja vu all over again...

Anonymous said...

They actually have electric toothbrushes for kids nowadays, would you believe?! Anyway, we do the same at our house, sharing toothbrushes I mean. I douse them with boiling water once in a while, and hope for the best.

Btw, totally sympathize with the potty training. Dante is very sweet to go out and pee on the pot, and even let us know beforehand. It has been the case though lately, that he will come and tell us that he just laid a turd on the kitchen floor, after the fact. Sigh.

Elsie Button said...

god i am so with you on this 'can't be bothered' lark - i swear betty talks all the time in her head (probably using longer words than I myself understand) but refuses to actually say them out loud - only when she's angry or she cleverly wants to diffuse a situation ie. being told off. i also am terrified when the house goes quiet! great post!

Mom de Plume said...

Oh yes, do I know that panic that sets in when the house goes quiet... what is she up to that I haven't noticed her for 10 mins??? For what it is worth my four year old STILL has things she can't be bothered with and so proclaims "I can't" until she gets caught! (thankfully those potty training days are a distant memory, though)

Michelle said...

My son is up on next to the counter where my husband brushes each night and happily chews on his toothbrush while I get ready in the morning. And I have quite conveniently forgotten to mention it to him :)

Jen said...

Have you seen the toothbrushes for kids that light up the amount of time they are supposed to brush for? That's a smart invention! One of the women I worked for made up a song her girls would hum while they brushed their teeth, so they knew how long to brush.

DJ Kirkby said...

N3S and I both hate 'lecky' tooth brushes. *shudder* I have blogged about you on my lazy Sunday post. xo

Anonymous said...

You were quite rightly recommended by DJ!

My daughter (she is autistic, not that that should really matter) was 5 and a half before she came out of nappies - it drove her teacher bonkers. And me!

And we share toothbrushes far too often. Ovex worm medicine usually does the trick...

Great blog,
Crystal Jigsaw xx

Helen said...

I think that fart and run thing with the potty is just the trend for the current generation. Mine does it too. And she's got the thing for buttons. As for the toothbrush, do you have the kind where you can switch out the brush heads? Then you could have two brush heads, one for you and one for the Spud, and that would probably make you feel a little more hygenic, if not more sane.

Anonymous said...

For some reason, even when I was a kid, I was repulsed by the idea of using my parents' toothbrush. I guess it was good, until we forgot my toothbrush on holiday. Seriously, dad had trouble asking for "toothbrush" in the Italian shop. He's more of a French-speaking kind of guy.

You know what I did use? Mum's lipstick.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

It's when he starts using the electric toothbrush to clean the potty that you really need to start to worry.

Sparx said...

Jonny's Mum - Yes, he'd definitely play with it... but it's not so bad... just yucky!

Parental unit(s) - not a bad idea there!

Jennie... that was my coffee gone through my nose! We were going to buy one of those kids ones but they're not reusable, just disposable...

Elsie - yes, it's the silence about which one worries the most!

Mom de Plume - hmm... when did that start? I'll have to keep an eye open for that, I bet the spud is already lying about what he can and can't do!

Michelle - that's really funny... remind me knot to upset you at any point...

Jen - that's pretty cool... think the spud's too young for that yet but give us some time...

DH - thanks! Nice one!

Crystal Jigsaw - welcome! Sounds like you've been there already on all counts, glad she made it out of nappies. I know some non-autistic children who have only just got out of nappies aged 4 so she's not done that badly considering.

Helen - v. funny! Yes, I have thought about switching out the brush heads... I just know I'd end up forgetting whose is whose anyway...

Raz - yes, I'd have been the same... the whole idea is pretty repulsive but when you're two I guess it doens't make much difference!

WUASTC - NOooooo!! Oh my goodness godness, I just KNOW he's going to try that out now! Erugghhh!!

Anonymous said...

Re: Potty Training-- we had one that not only couldn't be bothered, but flat out refused any interest in the process at all. (This was also the kid with the lycra-spandex 18 hr bladder.)

Until, that is, one day when Dad was going to go camping. He wanted to go, too, so when Dad said, sorry, no, only big boys can go camping, can't have diapers in the woods, he marched into the bathroom. Came out a few minutes later and announced he was a big boy and could go camping now. (Leaving the evidence for inspection of course.)

It's a matter of finding the right motivation, lol!