Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, I've been following Clark around--because, if I don't. . .
I got out of the shower this morning and Clark was uncharacteristically silent. I thought he had probably been attacked by a boa constrictor (one of those chain of thoughts things that you don't remember where it started). But he hadn't. He was sitting, happily eating dirt out of my potted plant.
I thought, hmmm, how do I teach him that this is wrong. Maybe, you say, you should give him a little electric shock on his tongue every time he eats dirt. Nope. He likes it. He's been sucking on our phone charger whenever he gets the chance. So a few days ago, I stuck it in my mouth to see if it was giving off any electricity. Sure was. A nice warm buzz. The kid has been sucking on it every time we turn around.
So it begins. As his mobility increases, his propensity for getting into trouble is exponentially growing.
(but really, how do you teach him that dirt is yucky?)
8 comments:
Oh my...yeah I'm not sure how to handle that one. I am dreading the age of mobility myself, we're going to have to raise everything 4 feet off the ground so he can't get in it! Maybe if you add chili powder to the dirt, it will make him stop, thats what we did to get the cats to stop peeing in the dirt outside our windows....:)
Maybe dirt isn't yucky and maybe eating wipes is good. (That's what I found Haven doing yesterday.) Basically I'm just as baffled as you are. But I did make a curtain to veil the VCR and DVD players which has solved that problem for a while.
He probably doesn't have a very refined sense of taste yet. I bet he just loves the texture and the softness of it.
You could put something bitter-tasting on the soil. He'd probably get the picture (as long as it doesn't hurt him or the plant).
Or you could put out a separate pot full of people-food (cereal? pudding?) for him to enjoy at his leisure.
I remember your mother writing once that there is more than one way to immunize a child when she described how one of you kids could be found sucking on the screw knob at the base of the toilet. It might have been Thad, or maybe Matthew...does that explain anything?
That explains alot actually. About both of them.
Some cultures down there in the South actually do eat dirt. I understand that Mississippi River mud that is heavy in clay is a favorite. He's just a good ole boy already.
I wish I could help you there but they don't learn,..they just grow out of it really. I think it's more of a curiosity phase. I mean, it's not like he's going to continue to eat dirt for the rest of his life right? Just enjoy the silliness of it all, take lots of pictures and maybe find something else to distract him :)
When you learn the answer, let me know. After Lincoln has depotted (if that is a word) our balcony plants numerous times, we have thrown away most of them. Sad!!
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