A Little Thora Milestone

A little thing happened today that I want to share.

*(Before I start, I want to remind you of a sound that Thora makes. It's the sound she makes for "tweet." Her tongue goes to the roof of her mouth, as if she's about to say "king" but she doesn't take the tongue off of the roof of her mouth, so it comes out "kng" way in the back of her throat.)

So...

On the way out of the grocery store this morning, one of the cashiers gave Thora two bright orange stickers. Thora wanted me to have one and so on the walk out to the car, we each had one on our coat sleeves. Then, upon loading Thora into the car, I offered it back to her, so she had two again. While I was concentrating on getting out of store's parking lot (insanely crowded even for a Wednesday mid-morning) I hear Thora talking, saying what sounds like "Mon kng... mon kng." I'm focusing on getting out of the spot and maneuvering around some other cars, when it dawns on me: She also uses the "kng" sound to say "two." She was counting!!! She was saying "one two... one two..." counting the two stickers that were on each coat sleeve.

Like I said, this is a little thing, but in the lifespan and development of Thora, this is a big step. I've been trying to teach her to count to 5 by playing this *exhausting* game where she says the
number and I throw her up in the air that many times. (1=1 throw, 2=2 throws, etc.) She's pushing 35 lbs., so you can imagine why I'm only trying to teach her to count to five this way! Anyway, she really loves this game and is always asking/commanding me, "Up Down! Fee [three]!" or "Up Down! Figh [five]!" She knows that she only gets this game once a day but she doesn't let a day go by without playing it. However, despite her love for this game and her connection that this is a game of counting, it's still kind of a chore to get her to say the numbers. She gets that "one" comes first. But then after that, it's kind of random. Often "three" comes after "one". Occasionally, she'll refuse to say a number and merely command, "Up!" Sometimes, she'll even throw a "nine" in there.

So with that as our baseline, to see her count to two today, totally unprompted, was pretty awesome to behold. Through misty eyes, I asked her, "Are you counting? One Two?" and she said "Yeah," and then a few minutes later did it again, and again it was unprompted. I applauded and congratulated her, as much as I could while keeping us on the road. Of course I called Sean and told him right away. And he was ever the proud father. It's moments like these that make me feel truly blessed that I am such an constant spectator to Thora growing up. There are many moments when I would trade places with my working (over-worked) spouse in a heartbeat. Many moments when the struggles and frustrations of interacting with such an impatient and demanding person seem to be the price I must pay for not having a career. I know it's fucked-up logic, but at times it does feel like I'm being punished for not being an "earner." But those are the thoughts generated in those moments of breaking spirits and battling wills, when surely my view of the big picture are not in focus. But today, watching her count for the first time, was a "big picture" moment. She's napping, things are calm, and my soul feels like a massive inflated balloon: big and high and boundless.

Kicking the Single-Use Petroleum-Based Plastic Bags Habit

I've become aware that available to the average consumer are totally biodegradable corn-based plastic bags. This plastic was originally created for farmers and used as crop cover, that would decompose into the land. So someone, who will surely going to eco-heaven, has started marketing products using this innovation to regular consumers needing plastics for their homes. Surely an executive somewhere realized that there is money to be made in this area of the market, so it's not a totally altruistic deed, meriting eco-sainthood. Still, reducing the petroleum-based bags that are produced (harmful part 1) and then litter our planet, both on top, like clogging shorelines and waterways, as well as sitting for hundreds of years underground in landfills (harmful part 2 and 3), I applaud and support the effort! These bags from Biobag can decompose between 10 and 45 days, leaving behind no residue. While a bit pricey, I think there is an easy, and long-term cost-effective way to incorporate these into our home.

We re-use plastic grocery and produce bags in a variety of ways before ultimately taking the bags to the recycling bin at the Whole Foods. However, some plastic bags in our house are used only once or at most a few times and those are used to:
* line the 13-gallon kitchen garbage can
* line an identical 13-gallon bin for recycling
* line the wet cloth diaper pail
* carry with us on our dog walks

These are my next steps in order to try to eliminate our household reliance on the single-use petroleum-based plastic bag, by replacing those old bags with either these corn-based, compostable plastic bags or with washable liners:

Step 1) Purchase kitchen bags ($4.75 for a box of 12) and doggie waste bags ($4.29 for a bundle of 50) from BuyGreen.com. Use these kitchen bags for the kitchen waste only, to which we accumuluate 1 bag per week. So a box of 12 would last us 3 months. (Not too bad for less than $5.) We will stop using the plastic grocery bags and produce bags for dog waste and instead use these Biobags exclusively. The plastic grocery bags can still be re-used for produce at the store and for other purposes, but will ultimately end up in the plastic bag recycling bin.

Step 2) Purchase 4 stuff sacks (2 small ones--$6.95 each--for the diaper pail and 2 large ones--$17.95 each--for the kitchen recycling bin), like these found at TinyTush.com, the diapering website where I purchased Thora's cloth diapers. Line the wet cloth diaper pail and wash it along with the diapers when needed. Since I will have two, I'll always have a clean diaper pail liner to use. The same method will apply for the recycling bin, which I was lining before to keep from cleaning up the inevitable leaks of rinsed-out-but-not-totally-dry bottles of beer, wine, juice, milk, random gunk, etc. This way, we'll dump the recycling and wash the liner when needed, replacing it with the spare, clean liner.

While there is the unavoidable upfront cost of the washable stuff sacks, I think they will pay for themselves relatively quickly, since we'll have reduced our home's need of a plastic bin liner by over 50%. And even if they don't quite pay for themselves that quickly in terms that are apparent in our monthly budget (what would be quick enough?), I'm not sure that I care all that much. If the financial burden for me is slightly more so that the environmental burden on the planet and my fellow human beings can be slightly less, well, it's a no-brainer.

Highlights from our trip to Chicago

I can't believe I didn't post once during the month of October. Granted, Thora and I were away for a week, and then we hosted the in-laws for a week, and then there was Halloween, and a slew of other moments from our daily life that dragged me up or down. Anyway, I'm glad to be back. To catch up, first I want to post some of the highlights from Thora's and my trip back home to visit friends and family in Chicago last month.

Thora loved this ramp at the Elawa Farm Forest Preserve.

Thora enjoying the fruits of the Apple Holler apple orchard and pumpkin patch

Thora doing her impression of an elephant at Chicago's Field Museum

Thora on her first carousel ride

In the sheep and goat pen at Lamb's Farm












Thora and NuNu at Apple Holler












Thora and Grandpa Bob







Thora and Aunt Natalie at the Rainforest Cafe
















Thora getting her first haircut from Grandma Jane











Thora and Great-Grandma Trish










and with Great-Grandpa Jim Pat