They say silence is golden, unless you have a toddler. After years of toddler experience, I confirm this to be true.

I handed Baby E his toothbrush this evening and he wandered out of the bathroom. I usually insist they stay in the bathroom while brushing their teeth, but the two big kids were arguing about something and he just walked out. I didn’t think much of it until I noticed that it was quiet, so I decided to track him down.

I found him next to our kitchen table, ramming what I assumed to be his toothbrush rhythmically down on the bench. But then I noticed the sound… it didn’t sound like the bottom end of a tooth brush hitting plastic. It sounded like something puncturing plastic. How could his toothbrush be doing that?!? And that’s when I realized his toothbrush was dangling from his mouth.

Oh no. I stepped forward, trying not to look alarmed and asked him what he was doing. He looked up, smiled at me with a tooth brush between his teeth and a knife in his hands. He was stabbing the bench with a knife!!!

I felt a lump in my throat, but I calmly asked him to stop and to show me what he had in his hands. I mentally sent up a prayer that he didn’t try to throw what he was holding, and he let me get near him and take the knife away. I stared at him, relieved that he was fine, and I looked at the bench and noticed about a dozen knife marks spread about.

I set the knife out of reach and held him, my heart pumping fast as I thought of what could have happened. I told him how dangerous the knife was and we talked about never picking up something like that again.

I had used the knife earlier in the evening to open up a bag of cheese, and while I thought I had placed it far back on the table, apparently it wasn’t far enough and he had gotten ahold of it and gave me a mommy adrenaline rush that I won’t be forgetting any time soon. 😦

a survey of the damage

The kids got an unexpected day home from school today, as it snowed some last night and we woke up to about a half inch on the ground. The back roads must have been bad because what started as a two hour delay turned into a full day off. Of course, I hadn’t heard about the closure until after I had gotten the kids up, fed, dressed, up the hill, and strapped in their carseats ready to head to the daycare. So I unstrapped them, and got them back inside and they stayed with grandma for the day and played with some cousins. And while I wish I had a snow day too, I was glad they got the chance to have some fun and play in the snow! 🙂