The Trouble with Gum

Yesterday morning I brought Becca downstairs and went to put her in her pack-n-play so I could help Ben get dressed. As I put her down I noticed there was a chewed piece of gum in her pack-n-play. I brought it to Ben and asked if it was his. He said no but I could tell he wasn't telling the truth. I explained to him that gum only belongs in the trash and it is very dangerous to leave a piece of gum where Rebecca could pick it up and put it in her mouth. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I went ahead and elaborated that if Rebecca put it in her mouth she could choke and die. Then I added that if I ever found a piece of chewed gum anywhere but in the trash can he would not be allowed to have gum again.

I was calm but stern. It was not the first trouble with gum I have had. When Ben was a baby I found a piece of chewed gum in his crib sheet as I was putting a clean sheet on his mattress one day. It was Joel's. He had recently started chewing gum again, and not unlike my almost-4-year-old, he had been known to leave chewed pieces lying around. This one he had apparently put in his pocket and it had gone through the wash and become entangled in the crib sheet.

The talk I had with Joel after that incident was a lot more stern and a lot less calm. But, I never again saw a piece of chewed gum anywhere. Until yesterday that is.

Like father, like son.