Georgia has had a cough for several weeks, and she’s tired of it. She wanted to know how she got the germ that made her sick, if only to lay blame for her misery.

“I think it was because Evan was picking his nose!” Georgia has zero tolerance for public nose-pickers. She thinks one should pick one’s nose in the bathroom, with benefit of a tissue, and wash one’s hands immediately after.

I, of course, think that’s highly civilized, and I’m with her. But I stood up for Evan. “That was a long time ago, and he didn’t touch you. I doubt you got germs from him. It’s probably that when you were playing with Baxter when he was sick, he coughed, or you touched something that he touched, and then the germ got into your eyes or nose or mouth.”

“Mommy, do germs live on people?”

“Yes, they can live lots of places.”

“Can they live on my dee-dees?” Those are her very beloved, soft cotton comfort items.

“Probably, but I don’t think they’d live very long, and you are the only one who touches your dee-dees, so you probably wouldn’t get someone else’s cold.”

“Germs are everywhere! Germs can live on the cats, germs can live on the stove, germs can live on the sun!” She declared emphatically.

“Well, I think the sun would be too hot for germs.”

“Are there any good germs?” she asked.

It was time for a visit with Dr. Internet! We found KidsHealth, a great site that describes germs as invaders, trying to breach our immune systems, and explains that the best way to fight these sneaky intruders is to cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing, and wash your hands all the time. It also talks about good germs: bacteria in our systems that help us use food nutrients and keep everything in balance. So it was perfect for Georgia’s imagination: we had good guys and bad guys, and we became [cue trumpet flourish] Germ Warriors! If I have any problems getting Georgia to wash her hands, I say, “Germ Warriors! Let’s fight those bad germs!” and she scrubs with a purpose. She got a little worried that she was hurting the good germs, but I assured her that they were all inside her gut, safe and cozy.

I have some concern that I’m turning her into a mini-Howard Hughes, since I tend to be the tiniest little bit obsessive about germs. (And smells. And mouth sounds.) And it’s hard to be a germaphobe who doesn’t use bleach or powerful toxic disinfectants to kill germs. For the longest time I felt stuck, but then I found some great ways to be a Germ Warrior Mama. In addition to these great ideas right here on LIME, I found out Metro, my local city government, has a terrific site for lots of green cleaning sources. My favorite new disinfectant is three percent hydrogen peroxide (the plain, old stuff in the brown bottle), used anywhere I would use a bleach solution: after preparing meat, in the bathroom, for the cat box. I no longer have to hope for the best with mildly disinfectant vinegar — which I use to clean everything from glass to the garbage disposal. Now I can really kick some germ butt too!