Lovely, Lovely Lotion...

My daughter has a new habit. She is addicted to lotion.

I'll explain.

The other day, my daughter found a little bottle of Bath & Body Works peach scented lotion on my nightstand. She asked what it was and I told her.

"May I have some?" she asked sweetly. I thought, "what will it hurt?" and agreed.

She smelled her hands and made a face. I told her she could wash it off with water if she didn't like it. She happily complied.

Ten minutes later, in she walks with a bottle of Nivea from the bathroom. (In case you're wondering, we are a dry-skin family.) We went through the same routine.

Then my daughter went from room to room, bringing her little bathroom stool around the house to make her taller so that she could check dressers, countertops and cupboards. I would hear a little squeal when she found a new bottle of lotion somewhere, and she would bring it in to where I sat reading. At the end of the expedition we had 9 bottles of lotion in all different sizes and shapes. Some had pump tops, some had screw caps, some had flip tops. She even found the little tube of lotion I keep in my purse and brought it in.

"Mommy, let's have a lotion party."

Laughing, and although there was a note of caution in the back of my consciousness, I agreed. I'll be darned if she didn't try every single one until she found the smell she was looking for. By the end of it all, her hands were as soft as a newborn baby's.

Giggling, I told my husband all about it when he got home. He said, "does she come up with these things herself, or are you teaching her to be a girly-girl?" I assured him that she is naturally a girly-girl... there is no "teaching" required. He gave a half-hearted frown. Our daughter entered the room and immediately had him smell her hands. He gave just the right amount of attention to let us both know that he thought it was cute.

And it was cute, until...

A few days later, my daughter and I went shopping for a friend's birthday. I looked in several shops for jewelry or clothes, finding nothing that sparked my interest. Finally, I spied Bath & Body Works. We went in.

My daughter's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at all the bottles of lotion everywhere.

"I love this place!" she exclaimed in her three-year-old squeal.

The salespeople descended like flies. Out came every tester of every kind of lotion I have ever seen. My daughter pushed up her sleeves to make more room for more samples to be rubbed on her skin. (She was quite upset when she realized how difficult it is to smell lotion you've just put on your elbow.) By the time we left, she smelled like a raindrop peach raspberry pomegranate fuchsia sweet pea coconut.

But, man, was she happy.

When we arrived at my friend's house for her birthday, my daughter proudly announced that we'd brought a gift from "the stinky soap store" (what Daddy calls it). With a confused smile, my friend said, "Thanks... I think." My daughter proudly told the story of trying 8 different lotions and lip gloss, too. She had the impression that it made her very grown-up, indeed.

All I know is that she made it far easier for Santa to fill her stocking than anyone ever imagined. (If you need to reach us anytime after Christmas, don't be surprised if we don't answer the phone. It will probably be slipping out of our heavily-lotioned hands.)

- Midwest Mom