Mmmmm Dirt

When I was in Buffalo a few weekends ago, I read this great article in Newsweek about the increase in food allergies among young children. It’s a topic that I’ve been wondering about ever since our pediatrician gave us a long list of foods that I was not allowed to give to my child for fear that she might develop some type of allergy. I thought that it was a rather counter-intuitive approach because it seems to me that you should introduce foods earlier so that children get more used to different food. Then again, who am I to argue with modern science? So, I became a food vigilante, monitoring her every bite (well, not quite, but close).

Turns out, that this “introduce foods later” theory is not the only one out there. In fact, there’s some debate about whether that’s a more or less effective strategy. In addition, there are two competing theories for why food allergies have soared recently: 1) an increase in c-sections leads to fewer children being doused with the fluids from the birth canal (which have all kinds of crazy properties that we don’t understand), thus more immune system problems; and 2) we are too damn clean! I’m not going to touch that first theory, although I have lots of other reasons for loathing the current nonchalance by which women have c-sections these days. But, that’s a blog for another day. Besides, the scientists are pretty sure that the second reason (the cleanliness one) is more likely the culprit.

It makes perfect sense really. We deprive our children of every bacteria, of every germ, of every speck of dirt, and they don’t get a chance to really build up a solid immune system. So, their little immune cells (I’m sure that’s the technical word for it) start attacking “good” things like food. Kids in foreign countries and those who grow up on farms don’t have nearly as many food allergies as kids who grow up in our ultra-sanitized suburban homes. If you think about it, you might also realize that your friends and family who are the most clean are also usually the sickest. Ok. So, that’s a little anecdotal and not exactly up to my usual scientific rigor, but it’s true none the less. All of this is really just to give a big hooray for all of the Moms out there who, like me, say “well, a little dirt never killed anyone.”

Christmas Miracle

Craig’s List is just the greatest creation on Earth! I’ve been quietly searching around for a pre-lit artificial tree for this Christmas season, since real trees can be over $100. Little did I know that fake trees are a minimum of $250, and a good one can be upwards of $600. Who has that kind of money around the holidays? Certainly not someone who just came back from Italy! So, off to Craig’s List I went looking for a tree. I ended up finding a listing for a couple who was moving. They had many items for sale including a 9.5 foot pre-lit Christmas tree. It’s very “real” looking and fits our room perfectly. Total cost = $75. Now that’s what I call a Christmas miracle.

PS: I'm creating an Amazon wishlist for Hailey to make everyone's life easier, but it's not ready yet. I'll let you know.

Multi-Tasking

Killing Two Birds with One Tennis Ball

We all know that Josie, our loving border collie, has a bit of OCD about tennis balls. Turns out, Hailey really likes them too. This morning Josie was running around the house with a tennis ball until Hailey started chasing her and saying “doggy, ball” over and over again. I quickly told Josie to drop the ball and gave it to Hailey to let her throw it. Hmmm…entertain both of them without getting my own hand all slobbery from the ball. What a bonus! Unfortunately, my evil plan backfired when Hailey decided that she’d rather just run around with the ball. Being the good herder that she is, Josie trapped Hailey in the closet with no where to escape. Finally, Hailey surrendered and threw the ball. Two seconds later, Josie was delivering the ball back to Hailey’s feet. And so it began. It was at least 10 minutes of this back and forth before Hailey looked up at me with this look of confusion. It was if she was saying, “Seriously, this dog is crazy!” My sentiments exactly!

Bed Time

Hailey goes to bed at 7pm without a peep and sleeps until 7am. Ok. That’s what I used to tell people, and it was the honest truth. She was great about going to sleep; just hand her a blanky and binky, and she was out. All of a sudden, a few days ago with no warning, our fool proof system was suddenly shattered. I put Hailey down at 7pm, but it was almost an hour and two Mommy interventions later before she went to sleep. After several nights of different strategies, I finally just decided to just let her stay up until 8pm. She didn’t really seem sleepy at 7, so I figured we might be making a shift. Sure enough, at 8, she went down without a peep. I’m not sure if this is a permanent schedule change, but it’s nice to be able to spend an extra hour with her. Maybe she just wants a little extra Mommy and Daddy time. We’ll see.

Follow-up to Very Scary Christmas

I thought that I would provide a follow-up based on some research I've been doing about this whole chemical issue with children's products and toys. So, I present to you this list of companies whose products are less likely to injure, maim, or kill our children...

Playmobil – Given a green rating in a recent Green Peace study that rated the toy companies in terms of hazardous chemicals. Companies receiving a red (or bad) rating… Fisher Price, Playskool, and Vtech. For more information on that study, you look at the report.

Green Toys – This company uses plastics made out of corn. That’s pretty cool, but their product range is extremely limited.

Haba – Toys from Germany made from wood not plastics.

Healthy Child, Healthy World – This organization (which I’m sure I will be joining) helps to protect children from harmful environmental exposures. Also, includes a scary news report about some plastic that’s supposedly in all of the plastic bottles that we allow our children to drink from.

The bottom line is that Hailey is almost past the age where I would have to be hyper-vigilant about the chemicals in plastics because she's less likely to stick everything directly into her mouth. So, whatever damage there is from sucking on plastics, she's probably already suffered. However, I would like to get her some new stainless steel cutlery so that she’s not using plastic forks and spoons all the time. I’d also like to get her some non-plastic bowls, but I can’t seem to figure out what I can get that won’t break when she drops it on the floor. I guess I could start whittling her some out of bamboo, but in the meantime any suggestions would be appreciated.

New School

Well, Luke and I went to look at a new school yesterday and decided to enroll Hailey on the spot. They had only one space in her age group, and we snatched it up immediately. The school is about 6 blocks from my office and currently has care for infants up through 4 year olds. However, next year they are opening classes up to 2^nd grade. I’m really excited to put her in this type of structured environment where she can grow and advance through the classes. Plus, she’ll be with children who are all in her age group, which will be nice. I really don’t know whether or not this will help with her “no” problem or her general bratty attitude, but it doesn’t really matter. This is clearly the best place for her to be, and I’m thrilled that we were able to grab that spot for her. She starts December 3^rd so I will let you know how it goes!

PS: If you want a good laugh, take a look at Nikki's blog from today. If you want a daily devotional, read Katie's blog. There are links to it on the right. See, I'm cross-promoting.

Have a Very Scary Christmas

If you have 3-4 free hours on your hands, I have a challenge for you. Go to your local toy retailer (I wouldn't recommend Walmart for this one), take a stroll through the toy aisles, and find 10 toys that aren't made in China. I tried it tonight at Target. I was purchasing some toys for the child that we are sponsoring and thought that I might pick Hailey up some PlayDoh as a stocking stuffer. Grabbed the generic brand...Made in China. Found the real PlayDoh, Made in China. Found the toys for our sponsored child...Made in China. Started randomly picking up toys on all of the aisles and every single one was Made in China. People must have thought that I was crazy, but I was shocked!

Lucky for us, Hailey hasn't had any of the toys that have been recalled, but I still thought that it would be nice if we could limit our exposure to toys made in China just to be safe. HA! Hailey would never have another toy in her life if that were our plan.

At first I thought, maybe the recalls are reassuring because when you see the amount of toys that are out there from China, then you realize that relatively few have been recalled. If only we could assume that our efficient government was actually doing a good job of testing them.

So, in light of all this, I have a business proposal for you. Let's start a toy company where we make the toys from green materials, AND we make them in the good ole USA. Brilliant!!!

Easily Amused

Hailey is a mature 1 year old now, so you might think that she is getting very sophisticated in her taste for expensive, complicated toys. Nope, not at all. Hailey’s favorite toy is an empty bottle with a screw on top. Could be a 20oz Coke bottle, could be a small shampoo bottle, doesn’t really matter. If it has a lid, she wants to play with it. I can’t tell you the number of times that we handed her an empty Coke bottle in Italy and bought ourselves many more minutes of grown up time in a museum, during a tour, etc.

Here are a few pictures of her playing with an empty bottle this morning. She wouldn’t give it up, so we made it all the way to daycare before I could pry it out of her hands. That’s why I am making a call for any strangely sized or shaped plastic bottles with tops that you might have lying around your house. If you have time, please rinse them out and send them to us. I’m going to wrap them in a box and give them to her for Christmas. Seems like an appropriate gift.

Other things that Hailey enjoys: musical instruments (triangles, tambourines, maracas, cymbals…no drum sets, please), books (the cardboard kind are the best), anything she can push or pull around, winter PJs (18 months), pants or long sleeve onsies (18 months), etc. Just remember that she doesn’t need much; she’s happy with Tupperware and wooden spoons. There are other kids out there that need much more. So, if you feel like you want to buy lots of stuff, then please consider sponsoring a child through Salvation Army, the YW, etc. That's what we are doing this year. Or, you could give to Hailey's college fund.

Post-Vacation Blues

There’s something about that week after a long vacation that’s difficult to deal with. It goes a little beyond just the back-to-work blues. I think it’s the sense of possibility that you develop on vacation being slowly squashed by the mundane din of your everyday life. Oh, I’ve got it bad! It’s true though. Vacation makes you realize that there is so much more to the world beyond what’s right outside your door. It also helps us to understand just how adaptable we really are (even while toting around a toddler). We came back from vacation thinking, we could move to Italy, Germany, Canada, etc. We could travel around the world! Then, just as we were about to begin dreaming about all of the adventures we’ll have during the rest of our lives, we realized that we first need to finish 25 loads of laundry, make dinner, clean up the house, bathe the baby, and collapse into bed at 10:30. Not that I don’t love my everyday life. It’s just a contrast to the possibilities and excitement set out before you on every vacation day!

Ok. Enough of my whining. Let’s get back to reality. To try to capture a little of that excitement, I’ve decided to start my own little freelance writing adventure. I’m going to start offering my writing and research services on the open market or at least to friends and past colleagues that might need it. I know that the holidays are a terrible time to start something new, but I just want to feel a little more professionally fulfilled. I’m hoping that this will give me a chance to exercise my creativity a little bit more.

I know. I know. You’re probably asking, “Where are the Italy pictures?????” The answer is they’re still on Luke’s computer. There are hundreds and hundreds to go through, retouch, post, etc. We’re working on it. How about as a compromise, I’ll give you these two naked Hailey baby pictures? That’s should keep you quiet for a while.

Be Happy, Buy This

We’re home safely from Italy. We had an absolutely wonderful visit, but I’m still digesting all of the great memories. In the next day or so, once I get some pictures, I’ll post some of the highlights. In the meantime, here are my thoughts on things in the US that don’t seem so normal anymore:

1. Why are all the cars so damn big here?
2. What?!?!No vino with lunch?
3. Cappucino, per favore.No, I don’t need a grande.Just a teeny tiny cup with some super strong coffee and frothy milk.Geez.
4. American people, you need to drive in the right lane, and move over to the left lane only when passing. Ok, so that doesn’t work as well in gridlock.
5. Only one course for dinner??!?!? Are you kidding me? We prefer 3 courses spanning 3-4 hours and followed by tiramisu and cappuccino.
6. TV…oh how I didn’t miss you. I’d trade you any day for a beautiful mountain view.

Can I just point out one more thing that really struck me when we came home and actually turned on the TV (to watch football, of course)? What struck me was how deeply we are engrossed in the consumer culture of the US that we don’t even see how absurd the commercials are anymore. For example, there were tons of commercials that follow this premise… “if you want your family to be happy and to love each other, then buy them a [fill in the blank - minivan, flat screen TV, hamburger helper meal].” Does anyone ever stop to think how absolutely ridiculous this premise is???? People in other countries don’t have minivans, hamburger helper, flat screen TVs or even microwaves (in some cases), and you know what, I could make a strong case that they are every bit as happy, if not happier than we are. Just ridiculous. Maybe instead of buying more and more crap, we should consider spending time with our families, feeding them healthy meals, and maybe, just maybe, turning off that flat screen TV so that we can play an invigorating game of drinking, speed Scrabble.

Aren’t you glad to have me and my rants back?!?!?