Eau de Man

Mark has a surprising new favorite grooming item. It's a gift he picked during a white elephant exchange, and he hasn't stopped using it since.

The gift in question is a small bottle of body spray called "Elixir Green." It says "Barber" on the label, so I'm assuming it's for men, but it's filled with a spray reminiscent of noble firs. That's right, my son has a new body spray that makes him smell like a Christmas tree.

He LOVES his new body spray. It's even replaced his previous favorite personal hygiene item, a tiny stick of roll-on deodorant. (Which he didn't need. He just liked feeling grown up when he used it.)

Now, every morning, Mark spritzes himself. When he jumped into bed this morning, I was overtaken by the smell.

"Wow, that smells...strong," I observed. "How much did you put on?"

"Not much," he answered. "Just a couple sprays under each armpit." He lifted one so I could smell.

I choked a bit, then pointed out it will last longer if he just uses one quick spray instead.

"No way!" he answered, and climbed out of bed, offended.

Apparently, his love for the body spray is infectious. He reported last week that his friend Kyle convinced his mom to buy some, too.

"Now we both use body spray!" Mark reported. He added that his other friends are getting some, too.

I was a little worried about this whole obsession with body sprays and 9-year-old boys. It doesn't seem like something that should even be on their radar, and I wondered if my precocious little boy was growing up too quickly. But I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally realized why he is obsessed.

"You really like your spray, huh?" I asked Mark.

"Yup!" he answered. "I wear it every day now so I don't have to shower. It's GREAT!"

Which made me smile. And realize that if he's using it to get out of bathing, then I have no worries. He's exactly on track, developmentally.

And he's gonna be sad when he realizes body spray, as wonderful as it seems, does not replace a good old fashioned shower. In fact, sometimes, when he gets a little trigger-happy with that spray bottle, it actually results in showering more, not less, often.