>>>>All that said, I do buy plasticware, but put in the dishwasher and reuse it. ...
>>>
>>>That doesn't so healty... Scratchs on these materials holds microbes.
>>
>>From an early age I let my kids "go native". If they'd drop important food on the floor, so long as it wasn't covered in fluff and bits, and the dust could be blown off, I'd let them eat it. Not always wash their hands before meals (except of course, after the toilet) - stuff like that. I'm a great believer in "immunising" kids against their environment rather than isolating them from it. There's too much asthma in the world today with young kids, cos they build up no tolerance of dirt: antiseptic wipes for your work counter, etc.
>
>My wife is a doctor, and she does believe that too. While not allowing eating off the floor (I mentioned how our soil creates nice dust which gets everywhere - you can go around town and see gardens blooming from gutters :),

There are many old house in Brighton with budlia growing out of their cutters, parapets, usw.

>we pretty much stopped microwaving their milk bottles after they girls were the age of 0.25,

How does not warming the milk via microwave help? I still do their night-time milk drink thus, but not boiling it, of course.

>and later let them play with mud, insects, earthworms etc. Their immune system is boosted from mother's milk, but it won't get into gear if it doesn't get to know what it's supposed to be fighting. So let the samples come, in moderate amounts.

My point exactly

>
>There's an old custom we have back home - old women, when they see a nice baby, would briefly pretend to spit into its general direction, saying "pu, pu, da ga ne urečem" (may I not bring bad luck to it by saying it's a nice one). Just the pronunciation of "pu, pu" (a short u, if you can imagine one) would probably send some microdrops of saliva into the air. Can't imagine a better sampler :).

Back home, when I was a kid, if anyone turned up with a new haircut we'd climb over each other to get in "First wet!" which involved spitting on your hand and twatting him upside the head with it :-) Then came "Second wet!" usw.