Affordable Mistakes

Heading out the door Thursday morning Sam comes racing out of the bathroom.

"Don't worry mom, I took my tooth pill."

Knowing we have never taken tooth pill's, ever, nor do we keep pills in his bathroom I am wondering what in the world he just ate.

"Excuse me?"

"I took my tooth pill, that was wrapped in the silver stuff in the stuff from school."

I am now putting together my soon-to-be 7 year-old just ate and swallowed an unlabeled pill, from a packet I had asked him not to do anything with until I could explain to him what was in it. I was fuming....I wanted to lecture him on how that could have been a deadly pill of some sort and he could have died, what was he thinking eating something he had no clue what it was. However, I maintain myself...

"Oh..Oh..That is so sad..Thank goodness you are OK. Did you know what that tooth pill was?"

"Well no, but it was in with tooth stuff, so it must be a tooth vitamin."

"Oh Sam, this is so sad....but I am so thankful you are not going to be sick...and are OK...but this is so sad." I leaned down and gave him a big hug.

"What is it, what did I eat? Is it bad? What is going to happen" The panic was great.

"Oh..This is sad, I will talk about in the car, lets just be happy you are OK."

We get to the car and everyone gets buckled up. Sam is silent and nervous, I am running through my head all my love and logic how this is going to play out and at the same time loving letting Sam stew just a little over what he just ate. I ask Sam to smile at me. Deathly afraid of what he has eaten he smiles. "Yup, just what I thought. You didn't brush your teeth today did you?"

"How do you know?"

"Well that pill you took stains your teeth pink to show us where you are not brushing well, you chew it up in your mouth BEFORE you brush your teeth and then you know where to focus your brushing. Well because you didn't brush all your teeth are bright pink now. I wounder how your day will go?"

At that moment Sam went a little nuts in the backseat. "What their pink, my teeth are pink, I need to go brush them. You can't send me to school like this." It was great I just went brain dead. Then he started to wipe his teeth with his clothes, I had to think quick.

"OH-oh- Sam let me tell you another quick thing. The pink will brush off your teeth when you get home tonight. It will stain your clothing. If there is pink on your clothing when you get home, you will be paying me for them."

Silence, except for every 5 minutes or so when he would turn to Serafina and ask if his teeth were still pink. She would gleefully respond yes.

When I picked him up from school, he was happy and joyful. The first thing he did was look and Serafina and ask if his teeth were still pink. She respond with not as pink as this morning but your tongue still is. Sam conclude that he thought his lunch might have brushed some of the pink off. Then I asked how his day went.

"Fine, the kids saw my tongue was pink, but I walked around and talked with my lips over my teeth all day so no one noticed my teeth."


I am happy to say that I think my little guy will not be putting unmarked anything in his mouth for awhile. I even over heard him telling Matteo the other day that that it was not a good idea to putt something in his mouth, then he added, especially if you don't know what it is. Thank goodness, Sam was able to learn from this mistake!