Tuesday, November 28, 2006

the time for nightly toothbrushing is at hand

How did it happen that with only 5 children (4 with teeth), there are 8 kid-size toothbrushes in their bathroom? And why is it that I am the only person who happens to know which toothbrush belongs to each child? And how did it happen that each child now insists on using their own particular brand of toothpaste? Will-Crest, Mary-Crest for Kids, Maggie-AquaFresh, Charlie-Little Bear for Toddlers. (you did want to know, didn't you?)
So much for the concept of efficiency of shopping in the large family. At least they all use the same soap. Oh, they don't anymore. Its bar soap for Will, gel and a poof for Mary (she gets shampoo and conditioner too since she is the only one with enough hair for that), and lavender baby gel for all the rest.
Can you imagine the brain power I am exerting keeping all this straight? I haven't even mentioned keep track of which clothes go in each child's laundry stack each day. However, I cheat a bit on that one with the dot system on the socks and the girl's underpants. 1 dot for Will, 2 for Mary, and so on. If an item gets passed down it gets another dot so I can see at a glance who it belongs to. Pretty smart? Maybe I should put dots on the toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. Then someone else (Tim) could lay out the brushes and paste. Now that would be smart.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like the dot idea. I never thought of that. I just heap all the boys' socks in a pile and make them figure out which belongs to whom. Sometimes I get the girls' socks wrong, but they figure it out on their own.