Bugs

So Ethan's other recent fixation is with tiny, tiny bugs. When Aunt Wendi first came to stay with us in mid-November, she brought a children's science book called Ouch: How Your Body Makes It Through a Very Bad Day . (I actually had to go look at the title because since Day 1, Ethan dubbed the book the "Yucky Bug Book" and that is what we have called it ever since.) On pages 28 and 29 of this book, there is a two-page spread of tiny bug photo enlargements: chiggers, scabies mites, fleas, dust mites, head louse and eyelash mites. Ethan was fascinated with this page, so Wendi explained to him that these are big pictures of tiny bugs that just look like dots or small pieces of dirt in real life. She taught him that tiny bugs live on our bodies, in our hair, and on our clothes. The lesson was so thorough that Ethan absorbed which different bugs make us itch in different places. He can explain to you that dust mites make you sneeze, head lice make your head itch, chiggers bite your ankle, etc. Unfortunately, what started out to be an excellent science lesson quickly turned into a toddler obsession.

For the past eight weeks, tiny bugs have made their way into every aspect of Ethan's life. He'll be playing happily and see a speck of dirt on his hand. He stops playing, leaps up and shouts "BUGS! WASH HANDS!" Nothing can deter him from climbing both sets of stairs from the playroom to his bathroom and scrubbing his hands for a full five minutes. A speck of dirt on his clothes warrants a new outfit, and an itch on his back or on his head leaves him begging Mommy to "GET THE BUG!" If a piece of food falls, not just on the floor, but out of his bowl onto the table, it has bugs on it and is therefore inedible. (He also promptly dubs any food he finds unappetizing as bug-infested, as well.)

The newest bug complication is that he sees tiny bugs in the BATH WATER! The irony is evident: if the water can't be trusted to be clean, what is he to do????? For three nights, he only lasted about 30 seconds in the bath before climbing out of the tub in a panic after spotting a fleck of dirt floating in the water. Even if I "catch the bug" floating in the water, he won't get back in. So last night I rinsed the tub out thoroughly, rinsed both boys off before running the bath water, and then filled the tub with bubbles. Ethan got his first good bath in four days.

I've hidden the book, but there is no getting this bug thing out of his head. I'll just need an extra measure of patience until he outgrows it. :)