That's My Girl!

Kids can be really weird. I know a lot of it is because they’re growing, and discovering new things. But seriously, who said they had to put EVERYTHING in their mouths?

Emery has developed this thing for licking. Anything I hand her or she finds, must be licked at least once. It’s a little weird to walk around the grocery store, and have your kid licking every thing you put in the basket. Since she likes to feel like she’s taking part in the shopping I usually get the item, hand it to her, and she puts it in the cart. This was working out great until she started licking. But now, if I take her out of the routine, she gets mad and cries. Still, I don’t want her putting things like that in her mouth. Who knows what kind of germs they have! She’s been doing this with EVERYTHING! Wipes, brushes, cans, bottles, shoes, dirt, leaves, sticks, her food, and at one point a few nights ago, MY LEG!

She’s also had this fascination with rocks. From the moment she was able to walk around outside she would pick them up, carry them around, throw them, and then pick them up again. And as of late, she added an extra step by putting them in her mouth. It freaks me out! I’m scared she’s going to swallow one someday and then we’ll really be in some deep poo. Like the other morning, I put her down by the truck, put all of our bags in the seat before picking her up, and putting her in her car seat. I noticed NOTHING. Half way down the road, I ask her if she wants her banana, and she smiles. I could see she had something in her mouth, so I said “spit it out”. Sure enough out came three rocks! What tha...? Seriously??

It’s insane! I have no idea how to stop this either. Sometimes, if she knows I’m going to say no or take something away from her she licks it real fast instead.  Then she starts running before turning around and handing it to me. She’s so sneaky and fast about it! Then there’s no telling what she has in her mouth so I’m afraid she’ll choke, or possibly cut the inside of her mouth. Have you ever tried to get something out of your kids mouth when they don’t want you to? And when they have teeth?! This is no easy task people! It usually ends with my finger having teeth marks.

Anyone else have a similar problem? How the heck do I get her to stop?!