"Good grief!" Thursday

Is it wrong to say, "I love my child, but..."?

Because I love my child, but he has an oral fixation that is driving me crazy!!! My 4-year-old chews on everything... his sleeves, his matchbox cars, the bindings of books... I swear, every time I turn around I find something new that has been chewed on. Puzzle pieces... K'nex... good grief! I mentioned it to my husband and he said, "Don't you remember chewing on your pen cap in high school??" No. I did no such thing in high school.

So this afternoon I was diligently working on our budget—which requires a great deal of concentration—while my son was supposedly coloring at the dining room table (around the corner, just out of my sight). When I went to check on him, he hid underneath the table—a clue that he is doing something he knows he should not be doing. I gently issued the command: "Open your mouth." Inside were yellow waxy bits of chewed-up crayon. Grrrr. Fighting my urge to yell, which would be of no profit and I would regret later anyway, I smiled and reminded him that we never chew on crayons...and sent him downstairs to watch Elmo.

And now I'm blogging about it! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!