“Your feet are very clean now, Mommy,” Tate announced this morning as I slipped him into his seersucker shorts – the ones with the cute little sailboats.
“Um… thank you?”
“Yeah, they are VERY clean now!”
Hmmm. Confusion danced across my brain. I may not always get my hair brushed until past noon on the weekends, and I’ve been known to go to school wearing cheerios on my shoulder and toothpaste on my slacks — thanks to hugs from a couple of twin toddler boys — but I’m fairly certain I always manage to bathe.
As I slipped him into his shirt, he continued, “And your hands are very wet.”
Nope. Pretty sure my hands were dry as dust. I know because they were craving my Bath & Body Works hand cream – the cream I apply the minute the boys head off to school with their Daddy. If I put it on before they left, they would want some. And it’s not that I mind if they smell like French lavender and honey and all things yummy. It’s really not. Shoot, right now, Tate parades around the house telling me he’s Elsa and wearing a blanket for a ballgown while singing her signature song. So, no, it’s not that it’s too feminine for them (I don’t even know what that means), it’s just that it’s too expensive.
That darn hand cream costs a teacher’s penny – which is far more precious and valuable than a pretty penny, let me tell ya. Teacher’s pennies are delved out once a month ‘round these parts, and I try to make certain my lotion makes it through at least six of those once-a-month paychecks.
So, no, the boys get their generic brand baby lotion, and I horde the B&BW for myself.
“Tatebug, my hands are not wet. Cold maybe, but not wet.”
“No, they’re wet mama. You said they’re wet.”
“Pretty sure I didn’t.” Why was I arguing with a newly-turned three-year-old? A three-year-old who can throw a tantrum the way Tom Brady can throw a football – a fast and furious spiral into his opponents’ worst nightmare. Just ask the Falcons. What was I thinking?
And that’s when my husband stepped in for the game-saving interception: “It’s because you painted your nails.”
“Gotcha,” I said. “Wait, what? My nails aren’t wet. That was Saturday.”
“Right. Saturday. But remember when you told the boys you couldn’t pick them up or play ball with them because your nails were wet?”
“Yeah…”
He continued to fill in the holes of my faulty reasoning skills, “Tate thinks the polish on your nails means your hands are wet. And your feet are clean. Not just clean, VERY clean. It’s a toddler compliment. Say thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“Make my feet clean,” Tate demanded as I wrestled his foot into a shoe.
“Maybe tonight,” I mumbled. I’m not scared of painting my son’s toenails red if he wants. That doesn’t scare me.
But there are two frightful things about this exchange that I would like to point out…
- The boys are three years old and have never seen their mother’s nails painted. In three years’ time. I used to get manicures regularly. That’s just sad. And it speaks volumes about my life with twin boys. AND
- My husband can follow the derailed, runaway train of thought of a three-year-old boy. That’s either a sign of permanent brain damage brought on by three long years of sleep deprivation or of super-human strength. I don’t know which.
But I’m going with the latter. My husband is superhuman, which is a good thing because he’s going it alone with the twin tornadoes this weekend while I head to Chicago for some sister time with my little.
Like I said, he’s a superhero.
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