A Bra

You say that as one word: a-bra. And yes, I do mean brassiere. This is a well-guarded secret which I am now about to divulge to the entire world: Gab is a recovering bra-strap chewing addict.

It all started innocently enough. She would ask for a-bra whenever she was upset, insecure, afraid, agitated or simply to sleep with. She would cuddle them (sometimes one a-bra just can’t cut it, she has to have 3 or 4 or more) and she would be immediately soothed. There were instances when she would hold her a-bra to her nose and breathe in its newly-laundered scent. She'd look like a genuine junkie.

Simply put: If Linus has his blankie, Gab has her a-bra.

Just any bra won’t do because Gab’s a-bra (that term is both for the singular and plural) are actually my old tattered nursing bras. She would quickly reject any other. I think I can trace the addiction to when she was newly weaned from the breast and had this annoying habit of groping under my shirt for you-know-what. To occupy her hands – and mouth – I would give her a bra and she’d proceed to chew on the straps. It’s very much like giving nylabone to a teething puppy.

When she started putting names to things and would ask what a bra was, we’d tell her it’s a bra. So that’s how she ended up with that term: a-bra. She’d go: “Mama, can I have three a-bra?” or “Where is my a-bra?”

But since she started school, she rarely asks for her a-bra; so I was thinking maybe I could finally throw them out. However, she has traded this bra-strap chewing compulsion for an even nastier habit: nail biting. She has been so at it that we did not have to cut her nails for weeks since she started school. And when she had chewed her nails as far as she could go at them, I had to put my foot down and make her stop when I caught her chewing on her toe nail.

I found myself wishing that we could go back to those a-bra even for just a little while...

NB: The day after I wrote this post, Gab suddenly and miraculously stopped biting her nails. And these days, when I pick her up at school, along with her proud announcement of how many stars she earned that day, she’d tell me: ‘I didn’t bite my nails’ like it’s a big accomplishment.

And I guess it is.