what a week...

We survived our first week of school! Spencer loves kindergarten! The second day of school he was up before 6 AM to go! Ahhh!!!! By the end of the week, he was so tired, I had to wake him at 7:15! Today he slept in until 8! We did have a few weepy moments...he saw another boy crying for his mom, so he held onto me tightly and got teary-eyed, and one day his water thermos leaked all over his lunch...grr...love the Klean Kanteen, but it does leak if it's on its side!

But for the most part, we have a happy kindergartner! And I love that when he sees me a school, he always blows me kisses! My sweetheart! :-)

Cooper and Kendall are enjoying their mornings at Michelle's. Kendall's been mostly sleeping! Michelle has a blog about her own cuties...check it out! The post about her 1st grader son sleeping with his sunglasses is hilarious! Side note: Kendall has ditched the pacifier, prefers her thumb now...and sucks her fingers likes this! Rock on!

Trying to be a little greener about my classroom, too. I really would like to encourage my kids to be a little greener, too. I am going to ask parents to bring the Cleanwell Hand Sanitizer instead of the purell. That triclosan is everywhere now...I was pouring some refill soap into our bathroom soap dispenser and noticed it had triclosan in it...off to the trash it went!

Triclosan, you say, what is that?

Read this blog entry, from Green Arizona:

"From a scientific perspective, you should rarely use antibiotics and antibacterial cleaners. Crazy? Think about the claims, they kill 99.9% of bacteria. That means 1 in 1000 bacteria doesn’t get killed, because it’s resistant to whatever you just used and that’s the lone wolf that’s going to propagate a whole new army or resistant bacteria. That’s the undeniable truth of microevolution. So the next time you need to come at it with something stronger. It’s nothing but a vicious arms race, except that bacteria can evolve and antibiotics and antibacterial cleaners can’t.If that wasn’t enough reason, the most common antibacterial agent is triclosan, a nasty chemical in hand soap, deodorant, even toothpaste and many other items.

Triclosan with mixed with chlorinated water, most tap water, turns into chloroform. This used to knock people out and even kill things. We really want this in our toothpaste?

Good Bacteria: There are plenty of good bacteria. We couldn’t live without bacteria. They break down food like starches for us, help promote the storage of energy in fat (maybe not so good), help make vitamins we can’t make (like Vitamin K), strengthen our intestinal system, and help us fight cancer. Wow! Bacteria are awesome, some anyways. So it’s important to remember that while we’re killing bad bacteria, we’re killing good bacteria too. And dealing with a few weak (non-resistant) bacteria is good for a healthy immune system. And washing your hands with non-antibacterial soap and warm water is just as effective without the side effects of resistant bacteria.

Good Choice: If you still want to kill bacteria, like after your child put their hands in who-knows-what, Clean Well is a great natural alternative and now is found in common places like Target and Whole Foods. They make hand sanitizer (triclosan and alcohol free) and a triclosan free hand wash. And they still kill 99.9% of bacteria, including salmonella and E. coli, while being biodegradable. What more could you ask for?"

Happy Weekend! :-)