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Friday, April 2, 2010

Learning to spit

It's not a skill I thought I'd have to teach her. I thought it came naturally to little mischief-makers. Perhaps she's just too polite for her own good.

When your kid turns two, you're supposed to switch her toothpaste to the fluoridated kind, which also means she shouldn't be swallowing her toothpaste any more. We practiced spitting in the shower, gaping our spitters under the shower head until sufficiently filled, then seeing how far we could spray mouthfuls of tepid water across the shower. 10 points for hitting the door (the shower's only 3x3 feet to begin with - baby steps, right?)

She got pretty good and after shower, in my over-confidence, I slathered that flouridated Disney princess toothpaste onto her Hello Kitty toothbrush, knowing that after her 50-point score in the shower my wee genius would catch on. She stood on her stool by the sink and allowed me to brush her teeth, humming all the while. Then we leaned over the sink to spit. "Ready? Peh!" I said, trying to find the right sound to demonstrate what I wanted her to do.

"Peh!" she yells, thinking this is a fun little game. Nothing comes out. Apparently Disney princess toothpaste became her favorite food overnight. We go back and forth this way for 5 minutes.

"Pah!"

"Ptoo!"

"Ptooey!"

"Bleh!"

"Pfffffftoopt!"

A foamy loogey drips down her chin. Success! I clapped and shouted "yaaaaay! You did it!" as she grinned at me like a rabid gremlin. It's important to celebrate new victories with a toddler, however small those might be. Hannah, always watching and waiting for approval and praise, clapped with me triumphantly. As the excitement ebbed, her face changed to a twinkly look of concentration. A little tongue pokes out, feels around, tastes the foam, aaaaand . . .

Sluuuuuurp!

"Ahhhh! Oishii!"

I half expected her to kiss her fingertips and yell "Magnifique! Deliciuex! Encore!" Maybe we'll try brushing our teeth in the shower next time. That or buy some nastier toothpaste.

3 comments:

Flirty and Thirty said...

Suzie! You are such a great writer. This post made me laugh out loud. Thanks for sharing a moment that could have been easily passed over. It makes me look forward to motherhood and all the little moments like that. Hannah is adorable.

Suzie said...

Samantha - I don't really know that much about flouride and why you shouldn't swallow it. I know water is often flouridated, so it can't be THAT bad. I guess I always think "better safe than sorry." Besides, it's a good skill to have. ;)

Carrie - thank you! I love your blog, too. You are an inspiration.

Stephensens Rock said...

Suzie,
Nice one. I can't believe I've been missing out on your writing all this time. This was so funny, and insightful. I think I'm going to have to add your blog to my kindle feeds, your adventures with Hannah are as timeless as teaching a two year old to spit to save her from the very thing you're doing to help her is such a good way of capturing the paradoxes all of us parents get caught in.
I love it!

Your Bro,
Trav