Like pulling teeth

So Rex comes in yesterday as I’m applying eye liner. He’s five, but he’s a very young five. He’s the kind of five that’s way too busy trying to be anything but a big kid to atually act five.

“Mommy?” he says, Junie hot on his heels with a big smile on her face, “We’re going to make a tooth-pulling machine so we can pull out one of Junie’s teeth!” She noddded enthusiastically.

Now, it was early, and I was still in that “I can hear you but I’m totally not listening” mode. What I saw were two smiling children who weren’t asking for food, drink, or Nick Jr. What a nice morning.

“Oh!” I said, nodding approvingly like your typical auto-pilot parent. I leaned in to smudge when–

WHAT DID HE JUST SAY? I caught them just as they were making their exit.

“Um, I mean, no you’re not!”

They turned around, only slightly daunted, and Rex happily burst her bubble (this confirmed the feeling I had that it was her idea). “Sorry June, Mommy says no!”

And that was it, they were on to something new.

This is just a daily reminder as to why we should actually listen when our kids speak. Amazing the things we might hear.


Comments

  1. Good catch!!! I remember walking into a room of suds from mine “shampooing” the carpet – with shampoo and apparently with permission to do so. Have a great weekend!

  2. Y0u are so mean! It sounds like such a fun idea.

  3. And the next thing? A baby extractor. So you can get up and play with us, Mom. 🙂

  4. Good to know that I’m not the only mom who unwittingly assents to things before realizing what the child is *actually* talking about.

  5. Sometimes I say “uh, huh” to my kids about something and then my husband will call out to me,
    “you didn’t hear what they said!” Lol! It’s no wonder my kids only listen to half of what I say. I only listen to half of what they say!

  6. Haha, I love Becca’s comment. I wish it could have been made by me- same name and all. But, alas, I am not that funny!

  7. I think you only needed to be worried if the machine actually worked. If it did, you could get a patent and become rich off your kids genious. But what I would have heard is, “mommy, we;re going to make a mess”

  8. Wow! Good catch!