We have received the same question many times over the past 4 years:

Why does Jonah wear blue tape on his forehead? 

Jonah was born with an eye condition that required patching and eventually surgery.  At six months old he needed to wear an adhesive patch over one eye twice a day for 30 minutes.  At eighteen months he needed surgery to correct his Brown’s syndrome (his tendons were too short in his left eye).  We noticed that if someone gave him something sticky, like tape or a sticker, he would place it on his forehead.  We have contributed this comfort mechanism to his year of being patched.  When we were preparing to sell our home in the United States, we needed to do some touch-up painting around our home.  We purchased Scotch blue painter’s tape to protect our baseboards from drips.  Jonah peeled the tape from the baseboard and placed it on his forehead.  He liked the blue tape and we liked that the adhesive didn’t damage his skin.  He was hooked!  He no longer wanted stickers, he specifically asked for blue tape.   He wanted to wear pieces of the blue tape throughout the day.

People would look at us funny, but we didn’t care because we had a happy boy.

When we were driving from Missouri to Florida for training at Wycliffe Bible Translators, a friend gave our boys care packages to keep them entertained on the long drive.  Jonah received Scotch blue painter’s tape for delicate surfaces in his package and he loved it at first stick.  He then asked specifically for soft blue tape.  Now he is six years old, we have lived in France and currently in Cameroon and the only thing he has to have is Scotch blue painter’s tape.  Other children find comfort in a special blanket or stuffed animal, but Jonah finds it in blue painter’s tape.  We can’t find Scotch blue painter’s tape here and our roll was becoming thin.  We traveled to visit a family living in another part of Cameroon.  Jonah asked for blue tape before bedtime.  Our friends inquired as to why he wants tape on his forehead.  We shared his story and one of our friends left the table.  Our friend returned holding a new roll of Scotch blue painter’s tape that he brought with him to Cameroon many years ago and he said he was just cleaning out his shed and came across it, wondering what to do with it.  Jonah was delighted to receive a fresh roll.