Man Up

Gavin does not like to get dirty. He doesn't like dirt on his hands, feet, leg, arm...you name it. He sees a smudge and cries, "Oh, no mom! Wipe it wipe it!". He'll dig in it and play in it, but does not want it to touch him.

Now, I believe Shawn holds me responsible for this phenomenon. I am a little, how shall I put it, obsessive compulsive about being clean. (Although if you really know me, it's more about looking clean than actually having every speck of dust and germ removed...I just like the appearance of tidy.) I do make Gavin "wipe wipe wipe" a lot and make Gavin pick up his stuff a great deal. He's two, though. Old enough to put his stuff away if he wants to get something else out and old enough to clean up his own spilt milk. I really did not see the problem in teaching my son to use a napkin until now.

Now, I am actually becoming one of those moms who is a tad worried her son is going to look like a wimp. Not because I care so much about him being manly and getting greasy, but because I am already protective of him getting made fun of. I don't want that. So I go back in forth in my head about wanting to say, "Man up" or encouraging him to just "Wipe it off if you don't like it."

All that to say, we are now actually trying to play in the dirt more, using popsicles without napkins and working to get Gavin accustomed to the "yucky stickies" he abhors. Poor Brayden gets dirtier than most kids, because when he falls down, we let the dirt stick to him, so he gets used to it. (Another part of this probelm is always having to have wipes so Gavy doesn't go ballistic if he accidentally gets dirty.)

The other day at a birthday party Gavin just got really dirty. Most of it was on his face, so he didn't know, but I will say....it made me happy to see!