Destroying the Look of Joy

They come in droves. The little things your children do that you wish you could record. I sure do try. I have a digital camera with the video option. I have more pictures of the past 4 years than I do of my entire life. In trying not to be the mom who takes a million pictures of her first-born and then slowly loses the desire, or mind, to take ones of the children who follow, I have taken a ridiculous amount of each child. And the videos. I have videos of my children doing nothing. Seriously. They're just sitting there, looking back and forth from the camera to the television. I have video and corresponding photos of every holiday, birthday, event, trip, vacation and visit. They are all on my computer. I uploaded everything to a photo site to see how much it would cost to print them out. As it stood a month ago, the tally was $130. I've been on two mini vacations since.

This blog serves as my memory keeper of sorts. Perhaps when it is chock-full of humour - what I consider humour - I'll have it turned into a keepsake of sorts for my children. But, they are boys, will they even care to look back at that sort of thing?

Back to the little things children do and say. It's bath time. Eli and Odin are in the bath. I give them toothbrushes because they want them. They drink the bathwater anyway, so what's a little scrubbing the teeth going to hurt? I leave the bathroom for a moment. I can hear them giggling. I return and Eli charges out of the bathroom and emphatically says, "Momma, I washed my body all by myself (I'm smiling with encouragement) and then I put my toothbrush in the water (still smiling) in the toilet!!!" The smile is gone, my hand reaches up to the waving toothbrush and I huck it into the trash. The look on his face was priceless; like I just killed his dog. "But, momma, how am I going to brush my teeth in the morning?" I simply asked him if he would stick his face in the toilet and drink it. He giggled and said, "No, that's gross, momma." I gave him the "well, what do you think a toilet water soaked toothbrush is like" look. I don't think he quite understood because he looked into the trash as if he was going to retrieve it when I wasn't looking. I informed him that I'll get a new toothbrush for him...an ugly, non-character one that does not light up or make sounds. That'll teach him.