I Didn't Laugh Then...

...but now that Tobin is fast asleep in bed and can't hear my chuckles, I confess that I am giggling as I recall what happened earlier today.

This morning, we were in the kitchen, the older boys at the table doing a word search about Sargon and the Akkadians while Shav rummaged through the bag of colored pencils and Tobin stood on a chair playing in a "junk toy" drawer we have.  I had left the room momentarily but rushed back in a hurry when I heard a thud.  Sure enough, Tobin had fallen from the chair to the hard kitchen floor.  I scooped him up, cradled him in my arms, then headed for the couch to cuddle and assess the damage:  "where are you hurt?"  He showed me the back of his head.  No blood fortunately, and after a few minutes and lots of kisses to help him feel better, he had settled down and stopped crying.  I got up, but he stayed on the couch, leaning over to lie down on it and take it easy for a little longer.  He popped his thumb in his mouth for extra comfort, but comfort isn't exactly what he got.

Fresh wails erupted from him; and in the midst of his cries I heard, "Why is my thumb spicy???"

Oh, dear.  At first, I couldn't imagine how his thumb had truly gotten spicy, and I thought he must be talking about some other injury to it--maybe a scratch or something along those lines.  But then I realized that on the counter right above the junk toy drawer where Tobin had been playing stood 8 or 10 jars of salsa that Jeff canned recently.  I had not yet washed them off, and consequently the juice that had come out during the canning process was still on the outside of the jars, making them sticky and--I now know--spicy.  Then I remembered that I had seen Tobin touching those jars, moving them around, even trying to set them on top of each other until I asked him not to do that because they were glass jars that would break if they fell.  But until I heard him crying about his spicy thumb, I didn't give a single thought to the possibility of that salsa juice getting inside his body!

The poor, sweet boy.  He was truly bewildered at the new taste sensation that his thumb had mysteriously acquired...and tonight as I sit here and remember, I can't help but laugh a little.

Someday he will, too, I think.  ;-)

~ Tobin, fully recovered from the spicy thumb incident, wanted me to take his picture tonight, all decked out in remnants of face paint that David kindly adorned him with during our visit to the children's museum this evening and a dinosaur hat that we got some years ago at the dollar store...he may look a little strange, but I still think he's adorable  :)