Cal's Random Act of Kindness

Cal is usually dressed for bed before Ella is, and last night was no different.  She had just gotten her clothes off when a fully-jammied Cal was darting off to the bathroom to brush his teeth.  He did this all by himself and finished before Ella was fully jammied herself.

Without saying a word, he darted back into our room (this is where we do our jammying for some reason) and hopped up onto the bed to lay with Daddy for a bit.

Once I finished with Ella, I told her, “okay, let’s go brush your teeth.  You go to your bathroom, and I’ll meet you there!”  And off she went.  It’s the same statement every night; and, for whatever reason, I ALWAYS get full cooperation from her when I say it (unlike most other things).

I took a few breaths of my own without having to motivate anyone, respond to any questions, drum up any fake excitement over insignificant things before heading to the bathroom to meet her.  These are some of the best few seconds of my day.

I had just stepped outside our bedroom when Ella came bounding across the hallway floor toward me with her toothbrush in her hand.

“Look what Cal did, Mommy!” she exclaimed, her eyes smiling and her mouth grinning from ear to ear.

I looked at the toothbrush she held in her hand and on the brush was a dab of toothpaste.

My eyes quickly smiled and my mouth grinned from ear to ear as well.  I pictured Cal, alone in the bathroom after brushing his own teeth, thoughtfully grabbing Ella’s toothbrush, opening the tube of toothpaste (something she is unable to do herself), squeezing a little dab of paste onto the brush and gently setting it down next to the sink.  No one was watching or expecting this of him, and he didn’t bring any attention to the fact that he had.  It was a genuine random act of kindness, a small action on Cal’s part that warmed my heart and filled me with pride.

“Cal, that was SOOOOO nice,” I told him.  “I am SOOOOO proud of you.”

And Ella and I then went and brushed her teeth.