Mask Stories

Now that we've been wearing masks for several months, my kids have all developed "mask preferences." 

Nicky wears masks from Old Navy. I bought him a set of 5 in gray tones. He likes to wear the darkest gray mask on Mondays and then a slightly lighter mask each day so that by Thursday, the last "school day" of the week, he is wearing the lightest gray. This represents the lightening of the week as he progresses toward the weekend. 

Daisy wears glasses at school - a fact I totally forgot since she doesn't wear them at home. I rarely see her in glasses, so it didn't even dawn on me that she would have "fogging" issues. She prefers the masks that the school gave out because, in her opinion, those masks cause the least amount of fogging. Whether or not that is true... who knows. Daisy comes up with her own stuff. She either wears the masks from the school or Old Navy masks. 

Zoe likes the masks from Costco. The teal one is her favorite (they come in a package with orange, yellow, gray, and teal). 

Eva has what she calls her "truck mask." It has cars and trucks on it. That was the first mask I ever bought, and it has remained her favorite. If there comes a day when we can't find her truck mask, I can guarantee we won't be able to get her to go to school. She occasionally wears a different mask, but it has to be her choice (and by occasionally, I mean about one in twenty mask wearings). 

I have my preferred masks as well. I have a set of cloth masks with wires over the nose that I like. As far as being breathable, I think the disposable masks are the best, but I try to not use them very often because... earth.

Scotty wears a black mask that we got for free from the City. 

Our mask station

Mask wearing is pretty easy-going for Scotty, Nicky, Daisy, and me. We don't love it, by any means, but we're used to it, and it mostly happens without drama. Zoe and Eva have been pretty good about it, but they have some "little kid" tendencies that make things interesting. 

For one thing, their masks get really dirty. Sometimes Eva's has a brownish spot inside after school. I don't even want to know what happens to make it brown. Fortunately, it washes out. Zoe's masks are often dirty on the outside. I don't know how that happens, either, though it appears that she rubs her face in the dirt at recess or something. 

One day Zoe came home in a different mask than she went to school in. I asked her what happened to her mask, and she said it was full of boogers so she had to go to the office and get a new mask. 

(Heaven bless the teachers and office staff. I'm sure they have some doozy mask stories. Gotta love when a kid comes up to you saying, "Teacher, my mask is full of boogers"). 

Another day, Zoe had a bloody nose before school. We got it under control, but she had some residue escape during school, so her mask had bloody spots and crusty blood boogers all over it when she got home. 

As I mentioned, Zoe's favorite mask is the teal one from Costco. The other day I was at the car wash vacuuming sand out of the van when I saw the teal mask under the seat. I picked it up in my left hand and kept vacuuming with my right hand, but somehow I managed to accidentally suck the mask right out of my grip. I hollered a profanity and then just stared into the vacuum hose in a trance. 

I got away with it for two days (she wore the yellow one) before Zoe said, "Mom! I can't find my mask. I need my blue mask because it matches my Halloween costume." I convinced her to wear the gray one to her dance class Halloween party by telling her how lovely it looked, and then last night I ran to Costco and bought a new set of masks so she could have her teal mask. 

This morning I handed her the new mask to wear to school with her Halloween costume (our kids got to dress up today!) She put it on (Zoe wears her mask a lot even when she doesn't need to), chewed on it for a while, and then came to me and said, "Mom, this mask smells like hot sauce." 

Hot sauce?

She was very upset about the smell of the mask, so I dabbed a few drops of peppermint oil on it and said, "There! Now it smells like candy canes!" She was pleased as punch, and then all the other kids insisted on having candy cane scented masks as well. I have a feeling that's going to be my new morning routine. 

Speaking of mask smells... one day I took Nicky somewhere, and upon arrival, I handed him a mask, and he put it on and said, "Ew! This mask smells like someone ate Chick-Fil-A and burped in it!"

My kids have complained about the smell of their own breath in their masks. Sometimes their descriptions have made me sick to my stomach - like the other day when Daisy said, "One day at school I sneezed in my mask, and it smelled so bad!"

If nothing else, mask wearing has helped my kids understand the importance of brushing their teeth.