No Waste

I try to teach my children not to waste...you know--you can still color on a piece of paper with a bent corner; you can wear jeans several times before washing, and you can make a meal out of leftovers, etc. 
Today during Courtney's diaper change I discovered a muticolored, shiny treasure of sorts and Nathan thought the principles of resourcefulness and frugality should apply here as well.  I had him bring me a Q-tip just so I could see what it was that she had ingested.  "Huh, it's just a puffy letter sticker...she ate a sticker, Nathan!"  I then proceeded to wrap up the diaper holding the poo, the dirty Q-tip, and the petty treasure we'd discovered.  I then saw the alligator tears forming..."But Mom!  Aren't you going to save it?...I thought we could wash it off!"  I tried to explain why it was unnecessary to save a digested, poop-covered letter 'J' sticker, but some things are just hard to understand when you're 3.  I did remind Nathan that when he was a baby, he swallowed several Polly Pocket shoes--and we didn't save those either.  That brought a tiny bit of comfort.

And now onto lunch...

A Day Off

During cleanup time the other day Abby voiced an all too common complaint:  "I'm sick of  picking up!"  I told her I get sick of picking up after everyone all the time too.  To that she said "But Mom, that's why there's Mother's Day."  Oh phew--that's a relief.  She's right, what do I have to complain about when I get a break once every 365 days?