I’ve been answering prompts on Plinky this morning.  Cheeks has been helping.  Other user’s answers to this prompt were probably some of the best.

I Can Explain

You see….Since no one EVER calls me, I never check my phone, or have reason to pick it up really, and when it dies I don’t notice for days, and you always call during one of those “dead times”, so I always miss your call and don’t know to return it until days later when I finally realize my phone has been dead and I plug it in.

Every Thursday, or most Thursdays, Cheeks and I meet with all the Moms and Babies of our childbirth class.  For two to four hours a week Babies and Moms play, talk, and enjoy time with other people.  Each week, I’ve watched as all six of the other babies have learned to sit-up, roll, scoot, crawl, pull-up, and creep around the room.  I’ve watched as one baby after another meanders over to my happy, little cucumber and leaves with his toy.  Cheeks doesn’t have it in him to even hold on tight.  He just sees that the other kid wants what he has and either hands it over, or allows it to be taken — watching with wonder as his toy is being stolen, only to cry as soon as he realizes what has happened.  Some Mom or other will notice, bend over, take the toy from the offending baby, return it to Cheeks, and tell him that it is OK to take his toy back.

But he won’t.  At least not yet, maybe when he’s older.  Now he won’t even take something out of my hand when I’m trying to give it to him.  Whatever it is (toy, food, something new to explore) I have to sit it down in front of him and pull my hand back before he’ll grab it.  If he does take something from me directly he looks up at me as if to say, “Are you sure?  For me?” and then smiles hugely.

So, I’m not surprised when his friends crawl up to him, yell, and he hands over whatever he’s got in his hand.

Travel is hard on my skin.  Moisture changes, strange products, screwed-up routines, and more contribute to the problem.

This last trip to Phoenix was unusually rough, though.  When I came home I had a slew of epidermal issues.  There was a strange rash on my stomach, my face had broken out, I had a bruise on my head, and I had managed to successfully rub all of the skin off of my tailbone.

That last one is going to take a while to heal.

When we finally made it home the first thing I did was guzzle a bottle of water and wash my face.  The next day I showered and slathered myself in lotion and antibiotic ointment.

The rash is still a mystery, but the bruise doesn’t hurt anymore and, after a full-on pharmacological assault, my face is looking clearer.

None of this seems to happen to Cody.  I’ve assured him, it gets old, being so sensitive to change.  And, just in case he doesn’t feel my pain, I give him a daily description of the open sore that is my tailbone.

Does anyone have suggestions for avoiding skin troubles while traveling?