Conversations with my daughter...

[rivka]

Me: (holding up her toothbrush and pretending to make it talk.) Oh, I'm soooo hungry. Could I please have some tasty germs to eat?
Alex: No! Only white blood cells eat germs. You're a toothbrush. You're just a toothbrush.
Me: [...]



Okay. The science books? Are going to the used bookstore tomorrow.

...
...
...Okay, not really. But it's not fair. Isn't that kind of technique still supposed to work at this age?

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Alex is terrifying. Adorable, but terrifying!

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yup!

[txanne.livejournal.com]

"What are we going to do tonight, Alex?"

"The same thing we do every night, Mama--try to take over the world!"

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Hee.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, you are free to explain plaque, tartar, and gingivitis.

B

[gtrout.livejournal.com]

Le bwah.

[tea-dragon.livejournal.com]

*Grin* But at least she's not too old to talk to the toothbrush, even if she is using scientific reasoning with it. (You are sooo doomed!)

[baldanders.livejournal.com]

That was my reaction, too. Small consolation!

[redbird]

I'm not too old to talk to the toothbrush.

[ailbhe]

Wow.

WowEE.

I am so so grateful Emer is fairly average.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

(a) But the toothbrush can still -help- with the germs.
(b) Get a white toothbrush. It is now the world's largest white blood cell. (Or designate the white bristles as such.)

[namedphoenix.livejournal.com]

As a science teacher, I'm doing backflips over this bit of lovely.

As a someday future parent, I'm cringing in a corner. They really LISTEN that well? They UNDERSTAND that well? How do you DO it?

The other posters advised giving her more info. How about this: you can tell her that the toothbrush swishes the germs out of the cracks in your teeth so that you can swallow them and then get them within range of your white blood cells. You can also tell her that toothpaste is of a high pH (therefore basic) and germs don't tolerate basic environments, therefore killing them as effectively as the white blood cells!

But you've got to get them out with the bristles, first. :)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

As a someday future parent, I'm cringing in a corner. They really LISTEN that well? They UNDERSTAND that well? How do you DO it?

I think Alex is probably not wholly typical in that regard. But yeah, little kids are notorious for filing away pieces of information and bringing them out just when it's guaranteed to flummox you the most.

How do you do it? Um... you try to watch your tongue, and you cultivate a philosophical attitude. And you always have another toothbrushing scheme in the works. ;-)