A Feast for Mosquitos

Did you know we don’t have mosquitos in Colorado?  We don’t.  I know you’re jealous.  Feel free to covet.  You wouldn’t be the first.  Feel free to move here for the absence of both humidity and mosquitos.  You wouldn’t be the first.

My children, Colorado natives, have never encountered mosquito bites.  (Sadly, they’ve also never encountered lightning bugs, and this is nearly tragic to me.)  As we spent this week at the beach, they became covered – covered, I tell you – in bug bites.

Poor little boys.  Zero coping mechanisms for such torture.

I grew up knowing little secrets for mind over matter, distracting myself from scratching, and imprinting an X into the welt with my fingernails.  Something, anything, to make the endless itching end.

Their itching happens late into the night, or early into the morning, depending on the optimism or pessimism with which you view sleeping hours.  The boys were overcome with kicking, scratching, and writhing.  Torturous mosquitos.

Tyler says mosquitos make him hate the whole world.  He has a strong point.

I don’t know if this was a stroke of genius or perhaps a home remedy I just hadn’t learned about.  And I don’t know if it really worked or if I simply gave them a distraction for mind over matter.

But I gave them my bottle of nonaerosol hairspray.  “When it itches, spray this on it.”

And so they did.  And in this, we all found sleep.  The sheets are sticky, there are clogged pores on their calves, but it’s all a small price to pay when I really just need to go back to sleep.  Tyler calls it “the bugspray for Mommy’s hair.”

(On another note, I kicked my son’s inner tube into the deep end of the pool when I wanted him to leave me to adult conversation.  There has been some seriously impressive parenting happening here this week.)

Tricia Lott Williford

Comments are closed

  1. I was told that Mosquitos don’t like garlic, so I eat up in the summer time. Seems to be working. Just a hint!

  2. Growing up in Ohio as well, I remember the mosquitos…….and the lightning bugs. Yes, I will agree that the itch from a mosquito bite will make you hate the world…nothing like that “itch that won’t stop itching”. I, too, remember the fingernail in the bite welt to make it feel better…could be an Ohio thing. But I also remember taking our chances on the mosquito bites just to fill that extra canning jar with lightning bugs and then carrying it along as a torch on those cool summer nights. Memory Lane…..and Bugs:)

  3. Perhaps I misspoke. But compared to the Midwest, colorado’s mosquito population ain’t no thang.

  4. Witch Hazel is a miracle cure for bites. 🙂

  5. We have mosquitoes here. They love to join us while hiking, hang out by the creek behind our house and were so bad in Steamboat we almost left early. Not as bad as the midwest, but here nonetheless. Maybe there is just a giant mosquito net over the Ranch 🙂

  6. that’s rough. I’m SUPER allergic to mosquitos- we found out when I was 5 and got a bite on the inside of each of my thighs (dress phase) and they swelled up so big I couldn’t wear pants. I also got 3 bites around my eye in 3rd grade and couldn’t wear my glasses or open that eye. I know their pain 🙁 Really cold water feels good, and swimming helps cool them off. I hope they feel better soon!!! I’ve taken to hiding indoors during mosquito season- they get me so bad it’s better to just look at the outdoors from inside for me.

  7. We absolutely have mosquitos in CO. My son is allergic and gets bit every summer and we live in Littleton. You’r boys are lucky they have not encountered them here.

You Are Safe Now

Available April 9, 2024

This Book Is for You

Now Available
A book about falling in love with the Bible

Just. You. Wait.

Now Available
#1 New Title on Amazon in Christian Inspiration

You Can Do This

Now Available
#1 New Title on Amazon in Women's Issues!

Let's Pretend We're Normal

Now Available
#1 Bestseller on Amazon in Single Parenting

And Life Comes Back

Now Available
#1 in Denver Post: Nonfiction Paperback and Finalist for 2015 Christian Book Award
© 2015-2024 Tricia Lott Williford. All Rights Reserved. Site by Concept To Web.