Poop and Tree hugging

Wow. It's been a whole week since I posted.

Craziness!

A lot was going on last week, and with that said, I've got even more going on this week. But let's review last week first.

On Tuesday we had a mall play date. Nothing too spectacular, but fun nonetheless. There's a new mom in the group that has a little girl that's around the same age as Adrien. She's really nice, I hope I get to know her. Wednesday was supposed to be a trip to the Farmer's Market. It would have been wonderful weather for it, but the public transit train station nearest to the market was closed down, meaning it would have been a half mile hike -- downtown, stroller in-tow -- just to get to the place. I wasn't up for that, so I opted instead to go over to a small in-home playdate. We stayed until well after 2pm. Adrien didn't nap, and we still had to go to the church that night. We had Thursday off, I think...and then Friday we went to the park to play.

But wait, I'm skipping the most exciting part of all! Friday morning, Adrien had decided that he was going to do his business in the potty. Well into this third wee-wee trip of the morn, he then decided I wasn't going to put a diaper back on him. I knew he needed to poop. He knew he needed to poop -- he told me. But he still doesn't like pooping in the potty. I was in the living room getting his diaper situated, and not thirty seconds later I hear him whining as he tip-toes down the hallway. When he walked into view I noticed the poop streaks down his legs. Why had he been tip-toeing? Well he'd stepped in his poop, and apparently didn't like the squishiness between his toes. He was thoroughly grossed out -- as was I. I picked him straight up and held him away from me at arms length. We went straight to the bathtub and he got hosed off. After that it was into the bath.

Now I know I'm not going to get any super-mom awards for this, but while he was in the bath, I had to try to clean up the poo pile and subsequent footprints leading out of his playroom and down the hallway. Wouldn't you know that I ran out of carpet spot remover half way down the hallway? Mind you, I had full view of him in the bathtub the entire time I was cleaning the carpet. We still managed to make it to the park only 15 minutes or so late.

Saturday we had an easter egg hunt at the church. That was fun, although Adrien got stuck with a bunch of plastic eggs full of candy that he can't eat and I refuse to eat. They were all these rainbow Twizzler things. Slightly flavored plastic, basically -- full of heaps of sugar. And then Sunday we had church, of course.

I had been asked a week or so earlier to bake three dozen cookies for a reception being held after church services. I'd gone to Kroger where I picked up three packages of those break-n-bake cookies. They were on sale, lucky me. Saturday night I set out to bake them. The first ones I was going to bake sounded so delicious! They were these great big peanut butter cookies with peanut butter filling and peanut butter chips. I had fit them on two cookie sheets, but an extra break-n-bake square remained. Oh well, I thought I'd just eat it. I popped the cookies in the microwave and went about eating my raw cookie dough (I know, huge no-no because it has raw egg, etc. in it). I then decided to read the package. It was then that I noticed the expiration date. It read: Best By 20JAN2008. Um, excuse me? JANUARY!?! Thank God I didn't get sick. I threw the cookies away and returned the package to the store for a refund. Why had there been anything on the shelf that was that far past date? I don't get it. It's not the first time I've had to return bad product to that very store. I think I'm going to stop shopping there. I generally check my dates when I shop at that place, and I'm always frustrated by the lack of fresh goods. I really should be more thorough with checking dates and all, but should you really have to? I mean, you should be able to trust your store, right? Or is that too much to ask?

Moving on, last week I wrote about how I define myself. Since I am, and always will be, someone who needs to feel defined by something, I'm moving forward trying my hardest to make my own definitions with things that I strive to be. Such as, being more green. I'm trying to recycle more than ever. I really don't want to let those few plastic wrapper slide anymore. In the not so far future, I'm planning on planting a little garden with some strawberries and cherry tomatoes...probably a few other goodies too. I'm going to have some fresh herbs. I'm also going to try to have a small compost bin in the back. I am, of course, moving toward cloth diapering. And at the same time, I'm trying not to buy too many things that come in huge packages. I wish all companies could package things more eco-friendly. Moreover, I just wish more people recycled. I'm almost sure that only one other family on our street ever puts out their recycling bin for collection...but their regular trash bins are overflowing for each of the bi-weekly pick ups. I just want to feel better about the impact I'm having on my the environment, and to me that is such an important part of who I am...and who I've always been. We lived in a secluded area when I was in high school. It was surrounded by trees, but of course we didn't own all the land. Right before Christmas one year, the person who did own the land around us decided to sell the trees off for lumber. I remember writting the loggers emotional letters begging them to stop. It was Christmas time and they were tearing the world apart. I've always had a tree hugger in me, I just need to let it shine a little more.