What Do You Mean, "Dirty"?

Children have no comprehension of what is and what isn't dirty. They don't mind if their clothes are wet, food-covered or mud-ridden.  They are fine in damp, cold clothes and they don't seem to mind if there is food all over their face, hands and hair.  In a way, it must be very freeing to not have to worry about cleanliness all the time.

I remember when I was a child my mother telling me I could do any gymnastics I wanted in the grocery store, as long as I didn't put my hands down.  "Why can't I put my hands down," I asked?  "Because the floor of the grocery store isn't clean," my mother said.  And she had me there; it's hard to do many gymnastics moves without putting your hands down.

My children are similar.  They don't care if something is messy or muddy.  They're happy to be involved in making or participating in the mess.  Just now, they were outside in the back yard at my brother- and sister-in-law's house.  I thought that after a week I could trust them to not get into too much trouble in a few minutes so I went inside to grab something.   When I came back out, I discovered I was very wrong.

They had found an opening in the fencing that went around the base of the house.  They had crawled in, found two old, partially inflated rafts that had large puddles of muck on them.  They were jumping up and down, giggling together and being altogether too happy that they were making a mess.

I lured them out with food and then got them naked and showered in the outdoor shower (aren't those great at beach houses?)  They're in new clothes now and they're no-less happy than they were before while I can still feel a ghosting residual "filth" on my hands just from cleaning them up.

Sometimes, it's good to be a baby.

The Big Boy Update:  "That guitar is the storm."  Uncle Eric has lots of guitars.  My son was strumming the three hanging on the wall in his office this morning.  The one on the left and the one on the right were electric and when not amped, they're quiet when you strum them.  The one in the middle though, was acoustic and was quite loud when he played the strings.  He looked at me and said, "that guitar is the storm."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Peepotty.  She tells you now when she has to go to the potty.  It's a mere second or two before she actually goes in her pants, but she tells you.  She also says "poop poop poop" but that usually means pee.  I've been lazy this week on vacation and have had her in a diaper most of the time.  Back to training in full next week.