cows, and piglets, and germs, oh my!

I remember my bestest friend Annie telling me once how my sweet, blonde, curly-haired little goddaughter Iris had once eaten cat poop.  Inwardly, I cringed and realized how my mother used to leave food out overnight on the stove, only covered with a lid, to be served again for lunch the next day (ugh...the public health student in me just vomited a little bit).  But you know how the old adage goes..."I did (insert bad action here) and I turned out just fine!"

No masks in my house! 

I'll be the first to say that I'm not the cleanest person that ever walked this earth.  My aunt Martha, who lives in Colombia and has the luxury of having help, has her house cleaned every single day.  When she found out that I do a full house cleaning only 2x a month, she about toppled over in shock.  "Hell," I said, "if I had 'help,' I'd also have my house cleaned every day."  It's not that I don't like cleanliness...I do!  I'm happier when everything is clean and in its place (I get anxiety when I see Desmond's toys on the floor), but I can tell you that I hardly every mop my floors and I never clean my toilets (I just hope Billy gets to them within the month).  Needless to say, Desmond's been exposed to lots of dirt and bugs in our house, and I'm A-OK with that.   

I'd like to think that I was more careful when Desmond was a newborn, what with his immature immune system and all, but I think I didn't really sterilize or antisepticize everything because I knew he was getting my robust immunity from the breastmilk.  So, when I read a report that babies that had been exposed to farm animals (i.e. goats, cows, chickens, etc) had lower incidence of skin reactions or allergies, I looked for a local petting zoo.  St. Louis' most famous petting zoo just happens to be owned by Purina (of Nestlé/Purina infamy).  So, we went to Purina Farms to look at their animals.  It's out a ways (about 40 minutes) from St. Louis, but it's a nice drive (unless you are driving with a child who hates being confined in a car seat).

Reaching out to touch the "oveja."  When you ask Desmond, "Que dice la oveja?" he says "Baaaaa."  But then he started calling his grandma "Baaaa."  So, who knows if he really understands my questions?

As soon as the sheep turned its face to him, Desmond retracted his hand.

This kid is not Desmond, but I think that little pink piglets are the most perfect little things.  Right after Desmond, of course.

Look at this chicken!  It's got bell bottoms!

They had a whole upstairs for smaller kids.  The truck is sitting on a bed of corn kernels.  God knows how many kids' mouths these kernels have been in.

So, I didn't even think about making Des wear shoes.  At this point, he was barely just walking and although I'm a pro at packing a diaper bag, I was just started to get accustomed to the fact that he needs shoes to walk around in.  Mom FAIL.

In awe of this kid's physical prowess and dexterity.

So, farm germs are great.  Just make sure it's not factory farm germs.