Stickystuffaphobia

Yeah, I don't know the medical term for it, but Riley has it, and here is his story.

He really doesn't like band-aids, stickers, tape, or anything of that sticky nature. Now, he doesn't mind food that's sticky - he has no problem at all with that - but anything that might resemble something tape-like sticking to him or his clothing he wants nothing to do with it. From the time he has been able to express his own opinion, and for him it was very early on, he has made it known he does not like sticky things. When I take my kids to Payless to buy shoes, the salespeople will offer my kids a sticker. If Riley is with me, he just shakes his head and says, "No, no, no," and slowly backs away from them. Seriously. It's really funny.

Anyway, the other day he was playing out on the patio and fell and scraped his knee. It was a good little gash and it wouldn't stop bleeding. The cut needed a band-aid. Riley disagreed. He was fine while we washed the cut off with water, and he didn't make a peep when I poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound. He watched ever so still and patient while I applied Neosporin. But when Ben and I mentioned the word "band-aid" he went ballistic. Hysterical. Crying and screaming. Ben attempted to pick him up, but Riley fought him. I want to aptly describe his resistance, but don't know if I can. He wound his legs around the back of Ben's calves and WOULD NOT let go. Neither Ben nor I could untangle him. We just stood there laughing. What else could we do?

He finally relaxed enough to enable me to detach him from Ben's legs, and I held him to try and calm him while Ben snuck over and hastily applied the band-aid. From then until the band-aid was removed 40 minutes later, there was continuous crying. He just cried, and cried. He wouldn't walk because he wouldn't put any pressure on the leg with the cut. He also wouldn't bend the knee on that leg. He needed a bath, so I took off the band-aid before he got in. The crying stopped as quickly as it began.

But there's a second part to the story, and it's even better than the first.

The next day we were running errands. I had just come from that fresh produce stand that is set up next to the Zion's Bank near Wal-Mart. I mentioned to the kids that we were stopping by Grandma Jeanne's so I could run in and pick up a couple of cans from her pantry, and that it was only me that was running inside, everyone else would wait in the car. Well, Riley loves to go to Grandma's, so he wasn't happy about that idea. I tried to explain to him we would be going back to Grandma Jeanne's later in the day, but for now I was just running in by myself. He was all upset and wouldn't listen, so I said, "Riley, if you don't calm down and listen I'm going to put a band-aid on you."

Silence.

He listened after that, and was a nice calm boy.

Ben said I'm a meanie. But really, it's just a band-aid.