We may have a problem....

My two-year-old daughter is a nipple pincher. I admit it, it's our secret shame, but the child won't stop pinching her own nipple. At first, I thought it was just a comfort thing, and yes, that's probably what it is. But it looks like a really painful comfort thing. She pinches that little thing til it's purple. We put vaseline or lotion on her chest, and she gets so, so mad! =-) Mostly we whisper to her, "Shirt down, shirt down!" Every once in awhile, she loudly proclaims, "I don't WANT shirt down! I want to pinch my nipple!" Very clearly, folks. There is no mistaking what the child is yelling or doing. I will flee a room when I can no longer pretend that she just has an itch. (I bring her with me, so she can't shame me while I'm not even there) Recently, I've begun carrying a bottle of lotion with me, in case of emergency.

We went to a Way-to-Grow playdate this morning, and I was a little nervous. I grabbed the lotion, put it in my pocket, and sent up a quick prayer for no self-mutilation at playgroup. We did really well, for about two hours, then I started to get VERY nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I finally just packed up before storytime. Nothing like nap time, a story, and a little nipple pinching to relax, ay? So I didn't even risk it, and we just left. This cracks my husband up no end. But really, wouldn't you be embarrassed? Just a little??? My older children did comfort things like rubbing this hands over the lines their socks left in their skin, or twirling their hair into knots. I didn't know how good I had it. I promise to never again try to stop a child from engaging in a comfort habit, so long as it doesn't make me flee the room.

In the meantime, though, does anyone have any good suggestions on how to stop this child from doing this? And what kind of people are going to hit on my blog site now that I've typed in nipple, pinching and lotion? I shudder to think.

In other news, I am crazily knitting on the husband's sweater. I've done the back, one sleeve, and am halfway up the other sleeve, which means that I will definitely finish the front when I get there! Then, without guilt, I can start that burnt orange sweater I've been eyeing the yarn for since before Thanksgiving. The pattern on the husband's sweater is VERY easy, and he says he's going to like it when it's done, so I soldier on. It's good knitting while I'm listening to NPR or waiting to pick kids up from school. Still, knitting a sweater for a grown man is a lot different than what I usually knit, which is for the children, or socks. Here's a picture, and then I'm off to watch Go, Diego, Go with the little darling....





Pretty easy pattern, no? The whole thing just looks like lots and lots more of this.