Gung-ho green

Edith is ready to take her place as a member of the Green Generation. She was anticipating Earth Day for at least a month in advance, excited to do something to take care of the earth. She had been bothered for awhile by the amount of trash along the side of Province Line Road near the Wegman's shopping complex, often pointing it out to us when we left the grocery store. So this past Wednesday Tom picked her up early from school, and the two of them donned gloves and went out to clean up that stretch of roadway. That evening she watched an animated version of "The Lorax" twice before bed. Then today she and Alice joined Tom in another clean-up effort along the D&R Canal, together with a small group of people from church who had decided to get together for that purpose.

For her part Alice countered Earth Day efforts by developing her first sustained diaper rash, necessitating prescription ointment and thus disposable diapers for the week (ointments can ruin cloth diapers). When we pulled the box of disposables we'd purchased in January out from under the crib we found she'd outgrown them--any takers on forty size 1 diapers?--and we had to buy a new box.

In fact, we got hard data about Alice's growth at her 4(1/2)-month checkup on Earth Day:

15 lbs. 1 oz. (54th percentile)
26" (90th percentile)

No wonder all her 6-month sleepers require her to assume a crouching tiger position if we're to zipper them up.

She also got a full complement of shots. And not a moment too soon--an outbreak of whooping cough is making its way through the university, and one of my students has a confirmed case. The booster for people my age wasn't developed until 2005, meaning I haven't had it, so I have my fingers and toes crossed that our lively conversations in seminar never resulted in anyone inadvertently spitting on anyone else. Whooping cough is of the greatest concern for children under 7, and the university has requested that not just students with confirmed cases but students with any cough or cold symptoms voluntarily quarantine themselves in their dorms for the weekend, cancelling any planned participation in tomorrow's Communiversity Day. Bring on Alice's TDaP vaccine!

When Edith came home on Earth Day and enthusiastically told me about her great adventure with Daddy, and I mentioned Alice's four shots and diaper rash, Edith grew uncharacteristically gentle. She put her arms around her sister, kissed her softly on the forehead, and murmured, "It sounds like my little girl had a bad day. Poor little girl."

It may have been more schadenfreude than empathy, but it was awfully sweet schadenfreude.