God made dirt, so dirt don't hurt

When Coulson was about 6 months old, I read a quip in a parenting magazine that went something like this:  "With your first child, you sanitize anything that the baby drops on the floor; with the second child, you follow the 5-second rule; by the time the third child comes along, if he can get to it before the dog does, he can have it."  As I looked over at my firstborn child and my dog sharing some Cheerios under the kitchen table, I realized I was way ahead of my time.  My personal parenting philosphy on germs is mostly based on exposure to build up immunities.  I have followed this exposure philosophy, not out of science, but simply because cleaning is not my default setting in life and if you've ever lived with me or even just been to my house on a normal day, you know that very well.  (I've always claimed that I'm an excellent mother, but terrible housekeeper, so I use "stay-at-home-mom" as my profession instead of "homemaker".)  But now I can claim that my housekeeping habits are in the best interest in my children and here's the science to back it up: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?_r=4