With the first year of school comes the first official summer break. And that means that I get to watch a little girl’s first experiences with the wonders that the magic of summer break have to offer…with some minor guidance of course. Captured below are two of these such moments.
She asked me to get her a drink. I was busy, so I suggested the novel idea of drinking directly from the hose. She stared at me blankly, considering that proposal. It had never occurred to her before that she could do that. Eventually, she decided that sounded fun, and off she ran. I found her in the front yard with the hose. Her eyes were bright with glee as she held the hose to her face, cute little nose crinkled as the inefficiency of hose-drinking drenched everything in the area.
Every kid enjoys being a know-it-all, especially to authority figures. At one point, someone had taught her that she could eat clover flowers, which has become a regular activity to taunt her teachers–guardians who are necessarily concerned with their charges eating wild plants. Now, with the herb garden installed, a banquet of edible plants sits in the yard, begging for a child’s destructive attention. So after she freed the remaining fishing worms into the herb garden, decided to sample the cuisine. Admittedly, it was fun to teach her about the different plants and let her build culinary associations. I’d have her taste a leaf first, then ask if she could identify it. She was pretty accurate with the more obvious ones, correctly identifying chives, mint, and basil. She’s not a mint fan, but loved the chives. Forestry merit badge earned.
–Simon