My 2 second metamorphosis into a germaphobe

In the grand scheme of cleanliness, I consider myself to have a reasonable tolerance for dirt, grime, and clutter, falling somewhere just right of about average but no where close to a neatnik. I can handle a certain amount of messiness without stressing over it, especially now after having a young child, but it's rare that I let my house get to a state where I couldn't at least find a closet to toss everything into on my floor in about 5 minutes should an unexpected guest decide to come over. I also don't tend to mop my floors or vacuum everyday except in the case of a spill/mess that needs immediate attention. So based on this confession , you could reasonably assume that Jack is not necessarily walking/crawling around on freshly sanitized floors everyday, and I'm reasonably comfortable with that. Of course in a perfect world (like if someone else cleaned my house), those floors would be spotless at all times, but since that's not the case, I've given up a certain level of germ paranoia in exchange for maintaining sanity at the end of the day when the last thing I want to do is pull out my Swiffer.

I'm noticing though that my "reasonable tolerance" for cleanliness quickly gets chucked out the window now when I take Jack to his doctor's appointments. There is just something about walking into a room full of other children sniffling and coughing and then getting down to play with the books and toys in the waiting room that morphs me into a germaphobe in about 2 seconds. I don't think the "well/sick patients" signs help matters in my mind either, as I somehow envision this invisible barrier that keeps all the germs in higher concentration in the sick patients room. You'd think that working in the church nursery would bother me just as much since sneezing and coughing abound there as well, but at least I know the toys get wiped down regularly...I'm not so sure about the doctor's office!

The biggest reason for this sudden, acute germaphobia probably stems most from Jack's desire to be down exploring his world and my lack of ability to contain him now without some serious resistance on his part. Luckily, while we were sitting on the sick side the other afternoon, he was quite content to sit and have a snack in my lap without any wiggling. That all changed though as we waited back in a private room to see the doctor. He wanted to be down exploring everything in the room, and finally settled on this swivel chair he could push round and round. Of course to further make me squirm he then zeroed in on the old gum smooshed down on the chair leg, followed by a few trips to check out the trash can, followed by a close-up inspection of the floor. Uggg....

After we left, I promptly wiped him down with one of those antibacterial wipes I keep in the car, but who knows how much good that really does, right? Oh well, the best way to keep my germophobia at bay is just to remind myself he has to build up immunity somehow. Then again, I thought that's what our dog was for :)