second chances

last week i brought stimson to the dentist.  it went well, his teeth were fine. blah blah blah.  but the dentist did ask him if he brushed his teeth at night and in the morning.  stimson, being the literal five-year old that he is (otherwise known as honest) said no.  my response would have been sometimes he brushes his teeth in the morning.  like most other people on the planet, mornings are usually pretty hectic trying to get out the door and there isn't a lot of time for non-essential tasks.  i am pretty picky about my own teeth and am literally (honestly?) terrified of the things that might go wrong inside my mouth.  i think i would rather pull off my fingernails watch a basketball game than have a root canal.  but stimson is five and has all his innocent, sparkling, white baby teeth.  bottom line- if we are really honest about this, he is going to get a second chance at keeping his teeth perfect.  my goal and intention is to brush morning and night every day, religiously, regularly, and routinely especially after the practice teeth are gone and the real set comes in.

but not stimson.  the next morning he got up, made his bed, and went straight into the bathroom to brush his teeth.  all before i even saw him that morning.  he didn't come downstairs boasting of his accomplishments either.  he just did it, matter-of-factly.  the dentist told him to brush his teeth; so that is what he did.  stimson listens and respects authority and doesn't question what those authorities tell him to do. obviously, this should have made me proud of him, and i was... but i immediately thought of merritt. she has never and will never operate like that.  if a dentist (or a parent or a doctor or her own mom) told her she should brush her teeth morning and night, she would not only not do it, she would probably stop altogether.  now, i realize she is only one and a half, but i can tell this about her already.  if i say go, merritt stops.  if i say right, merritt goes left.  she eats from her hand, not from my spoon.  i say you'll like it, she says yuck. stimson eagerly ate plain, pureed spinach.  merritt needs to have hers hidden in a smoothie and a bow tied around the glass.

so all of this has got me thinking that most likely our adopted child will fall into the middle of these two personalities, which is probably so far from reality and rather naive.  of course, the child could be similar to merritt or stimson in some ways.  however, since i have just two kids right now, i have just two categories.  in all actuality, this new-to-us child will be a third category that is yet undefined and unknown and it will be fun and exciting and challenging to find out.  i just hope they want to brush their teeth a lot and they like smoothies.