lick

I was babysitting Ava last night and took her to her basketball practice.  I watched her flail-y, 6 yr old self chase after her ball; not quite listen to her coach; look down at her untied shoes and try to step on them and not re-tie them; dance around; AND lick her hands/fingers every 30 seconds.  oh my word, gross.  It was literally constant.  Unless she was trying to run and dribble at the same time, her hands were in her mouth.  I do not know if this is a new thing, or if i just never noticed this before.  But seriously--ALL. THE. TIME.  I could feel myself getting a sore throat and stomach flu just watching this horrifying display.

When I say lick, I do mean lick.  she wasn't just chewing her nails, which is a common (but still gross) habit.  She was licking.  She held the ball in one hand, licked her other hand, then wiped it on her shirt.  Not sure why that part was so weird to me.  I assumed if she needed to do all this licking then she must feel like her hands need to be wet--but she wiped it off immediately.  It was so weird.  I just watch her in morbid fascination.  lick finger, dribble ball, lick other hand, dribble ball, lick hand and fingers, run, spin, twirl, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick.  

It was worse than a cat.  When she would come over to get a drink during breaks, I would tell her to stop, but I know she must do it without even thinking about it.  Either way it didn't stop.