True Confessions and a Discovery

I have many children but as any mother of more than one child can tell you, they are all different. My mother used to tell people that she had "three only children" in reference to the disparate personalities evident in the family. That said, there is one trait that almost all of my children have shared--their propensity to prefer to eschew clothing somewhere between the ages of two and two and a half years old. Based on the date of this picture I know that it was taken when I was in the hospital having Dixie. This is good because it means that none of the milk taken during this incident was used for anything but family use--I doubt the dairy inspector would be much impressed with the notion of a naked toddler in the dairy! (The little boys are actually not even allowed in the dairy and I am surprised that their older sisters even took such an incriminating photograph--incriminating because it is evidence that they were not following mom's rules.)

All toddlers this age have a partner assigned to them at the Carlson household to prevent such a situation as this but it doesn't work very well! We know this because it is not uncommon for us to look up anytime we have a child between two and two and a half and wonder aloud "where did his clothes go and where is his partner?" as said toddler streaks across the yard, usually in full view of a customer or other visitor.

We actually debated about posting this picture, Tim finding it hilarious and worthy of a blog post. I tend to continually try to convince people that I have it all together and that 1) my toddlers would never strip and run around naked 2) my older children would never allow such a thing in the dairy--even if only milking for family use and 3) that my goats never-ever look as unkept and shaggy as in this picture. About the only thing I can boast of in such a picture of this is that 1) Seth is mighty cute 2) Seth loves his "goaties" 3) Sara just cannot leave anything unphotographed.

Now for the discovery. We all know how horrid disposable diapers are for the environment and I have many cloth diapers to combat the destruction of the planet on the basis of the Carlson family infants and toddlers. That being said, when it is kidding season for the goats--and mom--disposables are the only way to go. I did find the diaper missing in this photograph this morning and discovered that contrary to what we are all told--diapers do, indeed, decompose in less than a kazillion years. It only took about six months for this one to go from on the child to barely recognizable only on the basis of one lone sticky tape found when I was supervising a trash pick-up around the property. So if you want your cheap disposable diapers to return to the earth--drop them in the back yard, let them grow over with grass and be rained on for about six months and you, too will have a hard time figuring out what they are when they are rediscovered.