Chapoholic

I am completely addicted to chap sticks. I've been using chap sticks frequently since my early teens I guess. In recent years, I have to apply a lip balm several times a day, in the winter sometimes even several times each hour. I have a lip balm in my purse, backpack, baby carrier pocket, desk drawer and bedroom drawer. I had one in my winter coat pocket as well but I used it all up. I've tried every Blistex, Labello, Nivea, ChapStick, SebaMed, and a few others marketed in Estonia today. I've even tried some cheap lip balms without a proper brand name. Still, in the winter the skin on my lips is so dry it peels off!

I researched it a little. There is and isn't such a thing as chap stick addiction. Many people report being dependant on lip balm but medically it's not really an addiction. Usually it's caused by a bad habit of licking one's lips. I don't lick my lips! I've ruled out this cause since forever. When I read about it this time, one website asked, "Now that I mention it, did you lick your lips just now?". At that moment I found myself sucking on my lower lip. BUSTED! I really hadn't thought about it but I do it quite often. Frankly, it does not matter if I wet my lips by pushing out my tongue to touch my lips or by pulling in my lips to touch my tongue. So I do actually lick my lips in this different sort of way. Guilty as charged.

The second thing that I found was that some typical lip balm ingredients CAUSE lips to dry. Menthol, camphor and phenol are thought to be the real culprit in many lip balm addictions. Conspiracy theorists and nature freaks claim that menthol, camphor and phenol are ineffective as lip moisturizers and are added to create the feeling of dry lips. Soon after applying lip balm they feel they need to reapply lip balm. Hence they have to keep using the product. If they try to quit cold turkey their lips get extremely dry and chapped and many people even report having swollen lips soon after they stopped applying lip balm.

Now I'm trying to kick the habit of applying lip balm so often. I keep observing myself so I don't wet my lips and try to use only the best lip balms that I have, hoping it won't have any of those bad ingredients. So far no help. Sometimes I manage two whole hours without applying lip balm but not much longer, except at night.

By the way, did you know there is such a thing as Lip Balm Anonymous! Chap stick addiction is still underestimated. Lip Balm Anonymous website was listed as number 327 in a book called "505 Unbelievably Stupid Web Pages."

Meanwhile, Siiri has learned to pull herself up so fast that she can even do it in her sleep just before she wakes up. Standing in her bed is like a compulsion. She can't NOT pull herself up. It's starting to get in the way of learning to fall asleep. She doesn't seem to realize that standing up is not the best position for falling asleep. Who knew, right? I'm very proud of her for pulling herself up with such ease. Her body is quite solid and still when she's holding balance standing straight. Yet her hands are clutching the bed like her life depends on it. There she stands with a straight body chanting "mmeEmmeEmmeEmmeEmmeEm!" (mmyMommyMommyMom)

Currently she has two bed toys. There's the Worm and Puppy. Worm is very comforting to hold and chew but Puppy is much more huggable. For a while it seemed Puppy will not come even close to how much she likes the Worm but now there might be some toy drama unfolding. Today she was standing in bed busy holding balance. She saw the Worm in her reach. She let go with one hand and grab hold of Worm but then started to lose balance and pulled her hand back, ending up with Worm dangling over the edge. Siiri looked at it and then just let go. Worm fell to the floor with a quiet thump. Siiri was overjoyed and laughed. She ENJOYED seeing Worm fall! Later I had returned the Worm to her bed and what did Siiri do? She carefully pushed Worm between crib bars and watched it fall again and then laughed. I wonder what Worm did to deserve such harsh treatment...