A lesson learned...the hard way



 Have any of you used these dishwasher tablets? I usually am too cheap to buy them, I just go with the least expensive thing Costco has and use it, but a couple of months ago my sister-in-law gave us some that she had back when they lived somewhere with a dishwasher. Having been without a dishwasher for over two years, she decided to make space and gave them to us.
Alex has had some exposure to these tablets before we had any ourselves. My grandma uses them and had a container of them under her sink. When we would go there, and Alex would begin to explore, he would eventually find them and want one. He thought that they looked like candy. So now that we've had them for several months now, it has been a continual battle with him that he doesn't really want this tablet that mommy keeps wasting in the dishwasher.
So last night as we finished filling the dishwasher, I pulled one out to put in the dishwasher. Alex loves to help me do any and all tasks, so he was helping me here as well. As soon as I pulled out that tablet though, he did not want to put it in the soap dispenser in the dishwasher, but wanted it for himself. Tired of the struggle and almost daily fight against him wanting to eat the soap, I let him do with it as he pleased. He excitedly took it out of the dispenser (for the third time--he now knows how to open it once it's been closed, another motivation for this lesson to be learned) and ran into the living room. I followed him at a safe distance...close enough to intervene when needed but not too close that he felt he had to defend his victory treat. He sat on the floor, held the tablet in both hands and nibbled a little corner of it. Immediately he said "yuck" and put his tongue out for me to help get it out of his mouth. He handed me the tablet back and we rinsed his mouth out at the sink.
I just hope that the lesson is remembered and I can stop fighting his desires for dishwasher detergent tablets!