Tuesday, May 8, 2007

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.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I chewed, quit, and restarted. I am a nail biter. In trying to quit that habit I bacame a smoker. The endless circle of bad habits....humans are the craziest people.

Tara said...

I pick at my nails, bite at them sometimes and when I was younger I'd pick at my lips. Sounds gross, and sometimes it would cause some bleeding. Then my lips would chap up and I'd start the whole process again. Vicious circle.

Mrs. Hairy Woman said...

Chewing the fingers is gross.. I did that too.. then one day when I was all growed up I stopped.. now they crack and peel.. What I wouldn't give for a manicure?

Rachel said...

Thanks for the link love l.b.
I mom still sucks/chews on her pinkie finger when she is reading. I am glad that I didn't get that habit.

Viki said...

I still bite my nails and sometimes my lips. Its gross I know but the things you do for comfort!

laura b. said...

Evil-E: I guess we all have those little things that keep us sane. I do have to say that nail biting has it all over smoking :-)

Tara: Did you ever get, like, addicted to chapstick? Sometimes when my lips are going through a trauma or something, I seem to use it A LOT.

BabyBull: My sister quit biting her nails too..it seemed almost effortless for her. Go on and get yourself a mani / pedi...you deserve it!

Rachel: Anytime! I do sometimes wonder if habits are sort of hereditary, but only one out of my five kids bites their nails too.

Viki: Yeah, I just tell myself that I could have much worse habits :-)

Tara said...

I used to eat flavored chapstick as a kid, then I realized I could actually put it on my lips. Yeah, I was addicted to it for awhile there. Every night before bed I would put some on.