My husband and I managed to watch 3:10 to Yuma last night, which I thought was a rather delightful movie. Perhaps delightful isn’t the most appropriate term, considering it’s filled with vagrant displays of gun violence. But it was delightful in the sense that it starred Christian Bale, an actor I’ve adored since first seeing him in Empire of the Sun. Ian is not so sure he liked it, although I suspect he’ll forever have bad associations with the movie . . .

You’ll notice that I said we managed to watch the movie. This is because we had to stop and start the dvd several times, thanks, in part, to what we call Bridget’s “butt issues.” You see, every so often she gets in the habit of withholding her poo, convinced that it’s something she just can’t do. I’ve learned to feed her LOTS of high-fiber foods and apply gobs of ointment to her tush when she becomes constipated, but watching her in such an uncomfortable state is painful. She cries, doesn’t want to be touched, yells at people. I once asked my husband, Is this indicative of how she’ll act as a woman in labor? I tried to assure her that it’ll be okay, and she replied angrily for me to shut up. (Have you ever been told to shut up by your toddler??)

Bridget and I were up throughout the night, just like I knew we would be. At 8:00 this morning, she finally pooed. And you know what she said to me after going? She swiped her hand across her forehead and said, Whew! That was a close one! I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

If you find yourself in a similar parenting dilemma, read my tips on how to help a constipated toddler.

Who knew poo could cause so much excitement?!

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The other reason which caused us to abuse the pause/play button on the remote was due to my husband having food poisoning. I’ve never trusted our local P&C (horrible grocery chain, in my opinion). For those living in the Ithaca area, DO NOT purchase coleslaw from the East Hill P&C deli. My husband became violently ill last night and is currently curled in the fetal position in our bed this morning. It’s the only food item he ate that I didn’t. I actually thought about serving it with dinner last night but held off, only because cole slaw didn’t sound “good” to me (I’m the cook, after all!). Hannah *loves* coleslaw, so I would have felt wretched had she eaten it and become ill. I felt guilty enough when I once served her an expired yogurt, which caused her to spend the night hugging the toilet.

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Did you know that Root & Sprout is now LIVE??!! Visit the site at www.RootandSprout.com . Take a look at the call for special content and be sure to submit your articles. The submission guidelines are located there on the site.

I contacted a local attorney about trademarking Root & Sprout and will hopefully have a meeting at the end of the month. This is major, as I am stepping WAY outside my comfort zone.

I’ve gotta protect what’s mine, however. Like someone commented, Root & Sprout is my baby. If anything causes my claws to come out, it’s someone threatening one of my children. I’m sure you can understand.

Have a great day! :-)