"I Hate My Nose!"

I just heard my 5 year old daughter say "I hate my nose." Seriously? You're 5, kid! You should NOT be at that stage yet!!

Abby is a nose picker. There's no denying it. Volunteer parents at school ask her to go wash her hands all the time. We tell her to stop all the time. She does it all the time.

Well, she's finally picked too far.

A little over a week ago, Abby broke out with several white heads, or a rash, or whatever. I don't know if it's because she ate strawberries, and maybe she's still allergic to strawberries, or if it's because she got her body's first dose of hormones. I really don't know. But she broke out above her lip, on the edge of her nose, in her nose, on her chin, and a little on her cheek. When she broke out before, it was all over her body. This time it was just her face. I think it was hormones. Maybe stress. I don't know.

Either way, since it was nose related, she picked. And picked. Every time we weren't looking, she picked a little more. Sigh. Poor kid. Pretty soon she had red and raw little sores all over and under her nose. It looked crusty and disgusting. On top of it, her nose started to run. Ewww. We kept telling her that it looked nasty and she needed to let it heal or it was going to get even more gross. It was as if she didn't believe us. It was as if she didn't look in the mirror everyday.

And then, three days ago, I caught her looking in the mirror. This time really looking. She made a face. "I hate my nose!" Oh man, it broke my heart. I assured her that she has an adorable nose and there was no reason to hate it. Just let the sores heal and it will go back to being a cute, healthy, happy little nose again.

Thankfully, she's down to just three sores now and they look like they're finally on the mend. Finally.