Ritual de lo Habitual

One of my favorite bloggers The Comedienne's Sidekick wrote today about her childhood habit of sucking her fingers. That made me think of my childhood and adult habit of chewing my fingernails. I know all the disgusting truths about my habit...I mean, hands are dirty things, right? Still, I don't think about it too much and I don't do it all psycho like some people whose poor little fingertips get all bloody. I would rate myself a very moderate chewer.

What the post mainly made me think about though was my son, Secret Agent Man. From the time he was a tiny baby his comfort habit was running his fingers over someone else's ear. I remember laying next to him and feeling his little fingers rubbing my ear as he drifted off to sleep. I was his favorite ear, of course. Still other ears would do in a pinch. I even remember him lying by our old dog, Nevada, and rubbing her ear! In the family, he was The Boy Who Played Ear-y.

As he got older, he gave up my ear...that would be embarrassing. Still sometimes when he slept with his brothers he would rub their ears...it was just his little thing and both Kick Back Dude and Social Animal were surprisingly tolerant.

Now that Secret Agent Man is fairly grown and one of those very private types I get some sort of comfort myself in thinking about his old comfort habit.