Sunday, September 27, 2009

Clean, Dirty

It's funny how children can differ so much, even within a family. Charlie seems to have a streak of OCD. I probably shouldn't say this in jest since OCD is a serious problem for some people. He's the only child I know of who hates being dirty. He loves washing his hands. It's not that he does it all the time but at times when one should wash hands, like after using the bathroom, he enjoys the whole process: turn on the water, put soap on his hands, rinse. He just likes to be clean. This morning, we had leftover waffles from yesterday. As usual, he asked for a rag (moist washcloth) so he could wipe his hands and face in case get got syrup on himself.

Ellie, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind being dirty. She freaks out when I try to wipe her face and hands clean after meals. It's not that she doesn't like to be clean because she enjoys washing hands and taking baths. I think she just doesn't care as much about being clean all the time as Charlie does.
Here's a picture of Charlie and Ellie after eating pudding. Notice how Charlie's face is practically spotless (and just to be clear, I did not wipe his face or hands before taking this picture!) and how Ellie has pudding all over her face. Even after I thought I'd cleaned Ellie up, Dan discovered she still had pudding in the creases of one of her eyelids.

1 comment:

Lynette said...

Here's to hoping she out grows the messiness!