Defining "Normal"

The other day Brian and I were talking about how people typically perceive themselves and their homes as "normal" and others and their homes as "strange". For example, when you are in your own home you don't notice that the house itself has a particular smell, you don't notice that you also have that smell, but when you go to someone else's home you notice that there is a difference, or when you have been away for awhile and come home as soon as you walk in you notice (I'd like to think that our house smells like vanilla air freshener, clean laundry, and pinesol (I like the smell ok) but that might not be accurate... at all). Like the scent (notice I didnt say "odor") of our homes, there are habits, behaviors, and attitudes that seem normal to us but might not actually be normal. I once heard a story on "This American Life" about a family that ate roast chicken every night for dinner, when their daughter went away to college she thought it was so strange that the cafeteria served something different every night. Maybe our examples arent quite as obvious as the roast chicken one, but they are still there. Brian and I have noticed that over the past 5 years, there are things that seemed normal to our individual families that when discussed seem a bit odd to the other person. For example, in Brian's family milk was served as a beverage with meals, in my family that wasnt the case so when Brian drank milk with his dinner when we were first married I thought it was so strange. This week I have been wondering what things from our family will seem strange when Michael talks about them with friends or when people come to our house. Right now I would imagine that Michael's world is different from that of some other children. In his mind/universe Mommys have unlimited time to play, cuddle, sing, etc, there are no siblings to share with, not outside work to interfere. In his world Daddys are around on weekends and early in the morning and he only sees other kids occassionaly. He has plenty of food, toys, attention, and love, diapers are changed quickly (no diaper rash in this house), and cries are responded to (I mean within reason... sometime he cries because he is rolling over, he hits himself in the face with a toy, he is fed avocado, etc). I hope for him that life will always seem this peachy and that to him this remains "normal".