Just Cleanin' the Eye Balls

It's easy to forget as you're going through your daily routine that someone is watching every move you make--very carefully. And not just watching for entertainment, but watching in order to learn how to do it for themselves.

Clinton has noticed mommy's facial cleansing routine (which is nothing more than about 30 seconds with a bottle of Neutrogena face cleaner) and he's been desperate to get his hands on that bottle for several weeks ago.

The night came when I finally slipped and left it out. Clinton didn't fail to notice. I left it on the inside edge of the tub and saw Clinton climbing into the tub as I passed from the closet into the bedroom to talk to Rodney...and of course, I didn't think anything of it. I just thought he was climbing in there to get his bath-time choo-choos.

After a few moments, we noticed our child was quiet (always a red flag in our house)...but as we got quiet to listen we heard a very quiet and pitiful whimper. I went in to find Clinton with globs upon globs of my face soap all over the side of his face, up in his hair, and in his poor eyes (which I assume was the cause of the whimper). With every rub attempting to remove the soap from his eyes, he just seemed to get more and more of it in and it seemed to be lathering up by the second.

I'm just guessing he wasn't about to cry when he thought he was getting away with something, but as soon as we started trying to help him there were tears to be had.

After a few dunks under the faucet and a good wipe down with a generously wet rag, Clinton was finally able to open his eyes back up and look around.

He hasn't gone after the soap again.

I'm all for learning a lesson the hard way once (or twice) if it means mommy doesn't have to hear herself say, "No, Clinton. Don't do that, Clinton. That's not yours, Clinton. What did mommy say, Clinton?" umpteen times throughout the day...maybe I should write a parenting manual...




Learning to be more careful,