What are little boys made of?

When we were little, and nursery rhymes were being taught, we learned two things:

Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. And,
Little boys are made of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.

My question is:

Which part of that makes them stink all the time?!

Gone are the days when my sweet, soft-skinned little boy smelled like lavender Johnson's & Johnson's body wash, bubble gum bubble-bath,  and the amazing scent that is Johnson's & Johnson's baby lotion. (Seriously...what do they put in that?!) He no longer has that sweet, breath-taking aroma of a soft, swaddled, baby bundle of joy.

Nope...not any more.

I swear, these days, no matter what, my son just...stinks. Constantly. And he is only four. What am I supposed to do about that?

And, I don't just mean stinks as in sweaty-little-boys-that-play-outside-all-day stink. (They haven't been able to play outside past 9am in three and a half months, thanks to this ridiculous, hottest-summer-in-history weather.) That smell makes sense, and has it's own nostalgia that comes with it. It's a smell that he'll never have again (before it turns into straight-up, teenaged body odor), much like those tantalizing baby smells.

But, no, it's also something far worse than that (at least, to me.) And, weirder as well. It's not his head, his pits, or anything like that. It's his hands and his feet. And they smell like...

macaroni and cheese. *gag*

But, more like...two-day-old, still-in-the-pot-on-the-stove macaroni and cheese. Shells and cheese, to be more specific. With that ooey, gooey, creamy sack of cheese that it comes with. *gag*

I've known for a while that he has this problem at the end of the day when he's played hard. Or, if we actually are doing something outside and he gets all sweaty and nasty. But today, was different. Today--tonight, rather--I noticed that his hands smelled like that right out of the shower!

What is that about?!

I was clipping his nails after his shower tonight, and it was just so gross. And he was fresh out of the shower, too...bare butt on the towel on the counter-top and all. He had no reason to be all sweaty. But, there it was. That nasty Velveeta smell on his sticky, stinky little fingers and toes.

I tease him about his macaroni-toes, too; in a loving, motherly kind of way. But, he's always putting those nasty little things on me. And that smell lingers. *gag*

Don't get me wrong, I love the little stinker. (haha) I can deal with the sticky fingers, random sticky spots on his face or in his hair, the dirt, the grime, the grease...etc. But there is something about the macaroni-hands and -toes that really get to me. *gag*

It's just...gross.

(And...I can't eat macaroni and cheese anymore. *gag*)

I sure hope that this is something he grows out of... =)

Prayers Needed...and Water

    Photo credit: www.deannaroy.com

Central Texas needs nation-wide prayers right now. This is a photo taken from Loop 360, showing the Bastrop fires behind the Austin skyline. As of tonight, more than 25,000 acres have been burned, and 476 homes, and it shows no signs of stopping.And that's just THAT fire. There are MANY more in the area:

 

photo credit: www.wunderground.com via www.deannaroy.com

We need rain. We need rain bad.

From our ynn.com News Network:

In Austin, so far this year:...we've had 80 days of 100+ (all-time record)
...we've had 23 days at 105+ (all-time record)
...we've had 27 consecutive 100+ days (all-time record)
...it's the hottest summer ever with an average of 89.5 degrees
...our hottest August was also the hottest month on record

 It doesn't say how many days without rain...but I can't even remember the last day we had rain. We have been in a severe drought for at LEAST the past three months...

Schools all across the Central Texas area have been shut down through at LEAST tomorrow, because they are housing evacuees who have had to leave their homes.

My husband has two--of ten--people on his shift who lost their homes in the fire last night at Steiner Ranch, off of FM620.

Dear Lord, please be with us right now in our time of need. Please keep our firefighters and first responders safe, please be with those who have lost everything, and with those who are still in the path of destruction. And, please Lord, let it RAIN!

Amen.