It’s both impressive and terrible how dirty the face of a runny-nosed baby can get. Even armed with ten-packs of tissue and fistfuls of baby wipes I can’t stay ahead of the snot. It’s all over her hands and face and clothes and my hands and face and clothes and just about every other surface she comes near. Worse than the actual snot, I think, are the assorted bits of pet hair and laundry lint and miscellaneous dust and grime that attach to her cheeks and stick fast in the mucus-y adhesive. Within ten minutes of leaving the bathtub she’s all grubby and nasty again. I swear, she looks like something out of Tobacco Road.

Even she doesn’t dare show her face publicly today.