Like a lot of kids, Daniel (15 months old) loves to put everything in his mouth. He is also our most adventurous eater. So I suppose nothing involving his mouth should really surprise me anymore. That being said, I am indeed surprised by his latest habit. The kid loves hand sanitizer. Yup, the almost pure alcohol sanitizer (not even the fun, fruity kind) that you rub on your hands is like crack to him. The second you put it on his hands he gets excited and starts licking his hands and fingers like crazy. It totally grosses me out (obviously) so I’ve stopped giving it to him as much as possible. However, he’ll see me using it and will start begging and fussing for it as if I have candy that I’m refusing to share. Out of curiosity, I looked up the dangers of ingesting sanitizer and according to Poison Control a baby his size he would need to ingest four to five teaspoons of the sanitizer to produce a toxic effect that would require medical attention. Clearly, he is not getting anywhere near that amount based on licking his hands. I figure there are times when using (and ingesting) the sanitizer is well worth it – say when the four of us are all huddled in a public restroom stall for Isabelle to go the bathroom and Daniel is touching everything in sight (ewww). So for now, I’m keeping the sanitizers out of sight (maybe I should hide the mouthwash and cough medicine, too) and hoping it’s a short lived obsession!
 |
| He's going to be lots of fun in college |
