conuly

and I've never quite gotten out of the habit of saving the appropriate ones when I happen to have them, or glancing at the cardboard recycling on Monday night/Tuesday morning to see if there are any. That's ten cents a box top! I collect them, and then hand them off to the next person I see whose kid goes to a school that does that.

So the other day I'm walking with the boys I pick up, and as it was recycling day in that neighborhood I was peering in all the bins. Oooh, box top! Here, C, come take this!

C: Did you... just pull that out of the garbage?
Me: The recycling. I know your school does box tops.
C: Uh...
Me: It's clean. It's all cardboard in there.
C: But anybody could've touched it!
Me: Yeah, like me. I touched it.
C: But it's dirty! It's garbage!
Me: No more dirty than this plastic cup I happen to be holding.
C: ...the one you drank out of?

Clearly there was nowhere to go from here, so I rubbed the box top on his face and slipped it into his bag while kissing his cheek and tickling under his arms. This is a stage I do hope he grows out of. Meanwhile, his brother is in the "I can eat it, it just rolled near the dog poop, not in it!" stage, so it's quite a contrast.