That's Not Food

My Joshy loves to put things in his mouth. Still, at 3 years old, everything must go in his mouth. And he also MUST touch things. He takes that after his dad. At least now he is pretty good about asking permission to do such things. His main questions in life are:

1) Can I touch it?
2) Can I eat it?
3) Can I have it?

Often times I must answer in the negative. For he is the gross child who, in an innocent curious child-like fashion, would eat dog poop (he really wants to know what dog poop tastes like. And no, he has never tasted or touched dog poop. Yet.). He told me yesterday that he ate a rock. I asked him where he got it, and he said "outside." We had not been outside yet, so I'm not sure what it was or where he got it. But he had a look of disdain on his face, and asked for a drink. I'm hoping it was just a dirt clod. I did see something black-ish in a couple of his back teeth. I suppose it could have been a pebble, that had dislodged from someone's shoe and was somewhere in the carpet (wouldn't surprise me, what with my wanton lack of housekeeping).

And a couple of days before that, he ate an ant. That one was my fault. See, he is obsessed with bugs (and worms), and so he likes to pretend he has an ant or ladybug or fly in his fingers (or that some food is one of the aforementioned bugs - like peanuts are ladybugs - yummy!). And he pretends to eat it. My mom happened to be over this particular day, otherwise I'd never have known it really happened. But he came over to me, as he has many times before, and told me he had a bug in his fingers and asked if he could eat it. I said "Sure, eat it." And he pretended (or so I thought) to eat it, and said "Yum! That's good!" Then my mom said - "Oh! He just ate a bug!" How was I to know there was a real bug (we think it was an ant) betwixt his inquisitive little fingers? Oops. So now we have a running joke that ants are a "tasty snack" (a la Bear Grylls). And I have to remind Josh many times daily that ants (among other things) are "NOT food."

I have no idea how many times Joshua has sneakily eaten ants without my knowledge. Lord knows there are many to choose from in the house these days (something I'm working to rectify). He loves to catch them, squish them, and yes. Eat them. I may have a true survivor on my hands.