When one has a child around the house and that child is the first child in the house, one tends to obsess about nearly everything. Here is an example: Will has recently begun experimenting with different head movements; specifically, moving it from side to side as if emphatically shaking his head “no.” Sounds harmless. Probably normal, too. But as first time parents of a year old, it doesn’t seem harmless or normal. As a result, we tend to blurt out things like “DID YOU SEE HIM DO THAT? IS THAT NORMAL?” (usually in a slightly emphatic tone, followed by a slightly uncomfortable smile… and oftentimes when no one else is even around). So you see, everyday logic tends to take a backseat to crazy-first-parent-intuition: the feeling that whatever is going on, it can’t possibly be normal.

Which leads me to our latest experience: the technicolor poo. To save you the suspense, turns out that if a 1 year old (could happen at other ages, but we’re not there yet) eats enough blueberries, his poo will turn blue. Same theory holds true for oranges and green beans. Haven’t been able to verify strawberries, but will let you know how that one turns out. So you can imagine our initial reaction to blue poo. Granted, funny thoughts of smurfs and such ran through our heads, but they were quickly replaced with “DID YOU SEE THAT? IS THAT NORMAL?” …in a slightly emphatic tone, followed by a slightly uncomfortable smile – okay, so the smile was still lingering from the smurf thoughts, but it sounds good. My first reaction was to scour the Internet for reference material, but I have been barred from self-diagnosis so I steered clear of that option. Then the most amazing thing happened: I stopped worrying about it and sort of enjoyed it. And it has since become almost a game to me, kinda like the “license plate game” (you know, when you see who can spot different states’ license plates on a trip) – “Guest what honey, I saw an orange one today!” Just how fun is that? Of course the look on Will’s face as I gleefully congratulate him on a nice “green one” translates into something like “DID YOU SEE THAT? IS THAT NORMAL?” …as if I am the strange thing he is observing that defies logical or normalcy.