Too Young To Shave

So here I am in the Middle East with yet another awesome story of ridiculously blonde hair and the boys who wear it.

When I was a boy my mother explained how it is that kids are such picky eaters. "It's because the tongue of a child has ten times as many taste buds as that of an adult. In the season of your life you lose taste buds by burning them, biting them, cutting them or doing other terrible things. And eventually, when you are grown up, you just don't have as many taste buds left on your palate to be as discriminant.

Tonight we were talking on Skype, just chatting away when Brigham finally decided to come back in the room from the kitchen and listen to his mother and I talk. In his hand he has a new found toy. "Beeg, what's that toy you've got there?" I ask.

"It's a noisy noise maker!" he says as he holds it high in the air. "Wow buddy, that's pretty cool." I reply and we continue on. It turns out that it's one of those electric lint removers that has a thin screen with holes in it and a spinning razor blade on the backside. But it's covered by the screen so it should be safe right?

Three seconds later Brig is looking quite stunned as pulls the noisy noise maker away from his mouth. His mother stops everything and examines his tongue which has been nicked and is bleeding. "Oh dear. You can't put this on your body, only on clothes little buddy." No tears. No crying. Just shock and disbelief and a touch of blood on Mom's finger.

Mackay was sitting on his mothers lap just watching the whole thing go down.

A minute later Mack and I are the only ones in the room and some how he has acquired the noisy noise maker for himself. I'm talking him through what he can and cannot do with it, but of course my counsel falls on deaf ears. (just wait till they're 15, then I'll really know about deaf ears.)

"No, Mackay only put it on your shirt... Yes Mackay, on your pants is OK... no Mackay not on your fingers... only on your... Oh no... MICHELLE!! GET IN HERE QUICK!!"

He'd seen his brother do it, so of course, he did it as well--because blood on your tongue has got to taste really good.

If what my Mom said so long ago was true then shaving their tongues like this today is just proof that my boys are growing up right before my eyes. We love them very much. I'd give just about anything to be there wrestling them this afternoon, just about anything.