Wash your hands.

It is a three word sentence.

At times, it is a plea. Other times ... a command.

Wash your hands.

How many times have I uttered these words?

I have three children. My oldest daughter is 22. I stopped telling her to wash her hands years and years ago.

My middle daughter is 15. It's been quite awhile since I had to tell her to wash her hands.

But the 13 year old boy that lives here... ???

Not a day goes by, when he's home with me, that those words don't find their way out of my mouth.

WASH YOUR HANDS.

It all started with the boy right around the potty training years. He was approaching 3 years old. He would go to the bathroom and I would make him wash his hands.

And just like anything, consistency and routine were the order of the day to train him to wash his hands ALWAYS after going to the bathroom.

But, 10 years later, I am still waiting for this boy to manage this passage on his own.

Wash your hands.

I don't want to say those words anymore.

I want the boy to wash his hands after he goes to the bathroom.

In the early morning hours, he used to try to sneak to the bathroom, closing the door ever so quietly, NOT flushing the toilet, then tiptoe out, just to avoid washing his hands. But I'd bust him as he would inevitably run up the stairs to his room, cluing me in to what he was doing on the first floor. I'd come flying out of my bedroom and make him come back down to wash.

He used to flush the toilet and just run the water in the sink, leading me to believe he had washed his hands. He'd come out of the bathroom and even wipe his "wet" hands on his pants to drive home the point to "whoever" may actually check to see if he really washed his hands. I caught on to that one when I stood outside the door one day and actually caught him with dry (filthy) hands.

He then moved to, turning on the water and sticking just his fingertips in the water and then flicking the water on me to prove he'd washed. His sister caught him wiggling an inch of fingers in the water one day, sans soap and figured out what his latest hand washing hoax was.

He graduated to squirting soft soap in the sink and running the water for long periods of time, making a ton of bubbles. He'd spend so much time on this, that I was just sure he'd washed his hands, but sadly found out that he'd only gotten the sink really clean, not his hands.

And once I caught him just putting soft soap on his hands, rubbing it in like lotion, and walking out of the bathroom.

He hates getting caught.

I hate catching him.

Why won't he just wash his damn hands???

It's a simple task. The water's right there. The sink is just right for his height. The liquid soap comes out of the pump easily. The towel hangs right next to the sink.

Simple.

Right?

But don't you know, I just told him to wash his hands.