She Can't Spit

File this under Mommy mistakes:

Haley can't spit.

Well, not yet anyway.

I didn't think she would be able to walk, or jump or run either.  She has proven to me that she can, so I am sure she will figure out spitting pretty soon too.

I tried to teach her how to spit after I brushed her teeth a long time ago.  She couldn't do it.  She would lean over the sink and open her mouth, but she had already swallowed so nothing came out.  I tried several times to get her to do it, but it made her mad.  She would just grunt at me and walk out of the bathroom.  So I gave up.

I don't use very much toothpaste on her brush and I just hoped that whatever amount of toothpaste that she ingested wouldn't be enough to hurt her.

Lately Haley seems to be learning at an alarming rate.  I thought maybe it was time to try again.

A couple of days ago after I brushed her teeth I said "Watch Mommy." and I put some water in my mouth and immediately bent over the sink and opened my mouth so that all of the water came back out again.  I asked her to try it.  She did it.  I almost couldn't believe it.

The next time I brushed her teeth I showed her how to slosh it around in her mouth before she leaned over the sink.  She thought that was hilarious, but when she tried it she swallowed right away and there wasn't any water in her mouth to slosh around.  I tried to get her to do it again, but she was done and out the door.

The next time I brushed her teeth I showed her the same thing.  This time she got some sloshing done, but then swallowed twice and there wasn't any water to spit out.

I just happened to be out of the house for a couple of mornings and evenings.  This morning I tried it again.  She did really well.  There really wasn't any sloshing, but she did lean over and spit out some water.  I praised her and made a big deal out of it.  Her Dad came in to the bathroom and said she had been doing a really good job for him.

So many times Haley is held back by my inability to teach her something.  Whether it is because I don't know how to teach her or it never occurs to me that she should be able to do something on her own.  I am so thankful for the people in her life, like her teachers and her aides.  They don't second guess her, they just show her how to do something.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

And sometimes we just need to try again later.