The Chapped Lips Complication

I've had chapped lips for a while.   It's not really a problem, I just put some lip moisturizer on them a few times each day.    Then, last Tuesday, I was at the endodontist's office and it came up that my lips were chapped and that I needed some vaseline because they needed to take pictures.   They use these  lip-spreading metal tools to make sure they can get their mirror way the heck into the back of your mouth in the most uncomfortable position and then, wait, hold it right there with the mirror pressing on the bone for us to take lots of pictures.

For some reason on the way home I got to thinking about my chapped lips.   I remember having the top lip split when we went to New Jersey in early August.   That meant I'd been regularly using lip moisturizer for five months.    That's not chapped lips, that's dependency.     I've had it happen before and I knew what I was in for.   Just like going through detox is harder before it gets better, getting off lip moisturizers is no fun.  

I'm on day five without any added moisture to my lips and they're just starting to get better.   They burn and sting and the skin is dry and even peeling in some places.   It's not pretty.    But it's getting better.   My lips were under the impression they no longer needed to provide moisture themselves, what with me adding lots of Burt's Bees lip balm all the time.     But I figured it out (albeit long after I should have) and I should be fine in another few days.

Lips naturally don't need added moisture, but putting something on them that's slippery and smooth just feels good.   Over time it creeps up on you that you need to apply moisturizer more regularly.   Oh, it's just chapped lips...in the middle of the summer.    That's okay.   And then you're stuck.     Hopefully I'll be unstuck soon.   My lower lip is already mostly recovered.   The upper lip is going to hold out for another few days.

The Big Boy Update:  The Stapler and the Remover.  My father gave my son a staple remover some time ago.   My son called it the chomper.   It would get put away but he'd find it again.  Today I gave him a lesson in using the stapler on some scrap paper.   He was thrilled at how the stapler worked (the grin was great) and even more happy when I showed him how to use the chomper to remove the staples.   He was occupied in the basement for quite some time working with these two tools.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Bootee Butt.   My children are saying that word a lot.  It's a combination of two other things they heard that, taken individually, were harmless.   Together, my children use this phrase to call people names.   My daughter thinks it's funny to say it and likes to say it far too much.   We're working on finding another word that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.