Of Course He Was

Don’t ask me what possessed me to take the kids to the grocery store the afternoon of New Year’s Eve after a fun but exhausting play date. Oh, right. We (OK, I) needed ingredients for Thai salad rolls, our annual New Year’s Eve dinner (after the kids go to bed).

We stopped in the toothbrush aisle, because I promised Leo a new one after I made the disastrous mistake of putting a non-electric Spiderman one in his stocking at Christmas (Ellie got an electric Arial toothbrush and to say Leo was envious would be an understatement).

“You can have SpongeBob (yuck, please don’t get SpongeBob I willed Leo, subliminally), Dora and Diego, Transformers or Pokemon,” I rattled off the bevy of choices and presented all four to Leo, who was sitting patiently in the front seat of the grocery cart.

“Princess!” Leo announced.

“They don’t have Princess, Bub,” I said. I again reiterated the choices. He may have been a bit overwhelmed. I find having two options is ideal but he could see there were more than two options.

“Leo, which one do you want? Do you want this one or this one or…” Ellie was chattering away as she is apt to do, crouched down at the bottom rung of the kiddie toothbrush display. “Oh Mommy can I get the Barbie one?”

“No you can’t get the Barbie one,” I answered, probably a little more impatiently than I needed to. Ellie just got a new toothbrush exactly a week ago. This was Leo’s moment. Also, did I mention it was New Year’s Eve at the grocery store? And that people are cranky on New Year’s Eve at the grocery store?

“Come on Leo, you need to make a decision,” I said. I’m usually pretty patient with him. I find that the more pressure he gets to “go faster,” the more he freezes up. He will do most anything I ask of him, in his own time. Which is fine, except we don’t always have our own time. And that particular afternoon, I was tired and losing it and it was the end of the shopping trip and I’d already had to ploy Ellie to even cooperate with a trip to the store with the dreaded Scooby-Doo Fruit Snacks (don’t ask).

“Leo?”

He was studying the brushes, still. And then he pointed to his head and said something I couldn’t quite make out.

“What did you say Leo?”

He said it again. I still couldn’t figure it out. And then, it was like the proverbial light bulb appeared over my head: Leo said, “I’m thinking.”

And with that, he very decisively reached out and selected the purple and green Dora and Diego toothbrush, a huge, satisfied grin on his face.

He was thinking. Of course he was. Leo was thinking.