Stopping to Smell the Roses (Literally)

I love watching my kids learn. Actually, I love watching any kid learn. That is probably why I am a teacher. It appears that Kate has just discovered she has 4 senses in addition to sight. I believe that she had a mission to use all five today when we were doing our weekly family trip to "'Nards and Carget."




Sense of Hearing:
She heard some distant rumbling from a tractor in the yard. She paused, looked at me and said, "I herrrd dat! Heer dat, Momma? Funder! Boom! Boom! Boom! God do dat! In da ky!"
We continued our discussion of funder and other tractor noises as we helped Daddy look for new locks for the doors.


Sense of Smell:
This was my favorite part of the day. As we walked through Menards, Kate noticed a huge floral advertisement on the tiles. All of a sudden I didn't see her toddling next to me so I stopped and turned around to see her sprawled out in the middle of the aisle with her nose to the floor. She was smelling the roses! HA! I thought it was adorable but I am pretty sure everyone around us thought I was doing poor parenting by letting my kid lay on the floor.


Sense of Touch:
This one is constant. Everything she sees she wants to touch. Usually I tell her to go for it, but there are some things that I don't quite know how to answer. For example, "Hot outside, Momma?" "Yes, Kate. It's hot outside." "Touch it?"


Sense of Taste:
This one was my least favorite today. After a brief chat on why she needs to hold Momma's hand or ride in the cart. And a longer extension to that conversation on why she should not hit Momma just because she doesn't hear what she likes.
She then took off across the aisle to a big metal pallet cart as I was looking at the greeting cards. "Kate, c'mon, let's go." "See dat cart, Momma? Touch it? Push it?" "No, baby, let's go." "Lick it?" My head spun around so fast it almost came loose! Yes, my Kate was licking the metal cart and all of the other shoppers were gasping in horror. It was time to go.


I am not saying that I have learned from my daughter that I should go around licking random things, but she sure gave me a great reminder to pay attention to the small things around me! For the little things make life worth living!