Eat Dirt!

Today was a relatively crazy day.

Rachel woke up at 3 AM. I got her calmed down and back to sleep and it felt like my head had barely hit the pillow when she woke up again at 5 AM. This time I gave in a nursed her and then put her back to bed and she woke up at 8 AM, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Oh, boy!

We went to playgroup, which lasted quite a long time. We didn't get home until 1:30!

Rachel nursed and fell asleep. I thought she was going to nap for a while since we'd been up half the night, but she woke up fifteen minutes after I put her down. This actually worked out nicely because we were able to go out for a walk with Val and Megan and their boys, Sawyer and Russell.

Rachel and Russell

She was pretty fussy during the walk though and just wanted to get out and play, so eventually we decided to just head back to the playground, hoping that it would be dry enough for the kids to play on. It hadn't rained too much today and the sun was just starting to peek through the clouds, so we set them loose.

All three of the kids are around a year old--Sawyer's 15 months, Russell just turned one, and Rachel will be one next month--so they were all walking around putting a little bit of this and a little bit of that in their mouths. Rocks, sticks, sand, leaves. You name it, it got tasted.

We got on the topic of disgusting things our babies have put in their mouths. I was sharing a particularly funny story about Heather's boy, Ian, who drank a cup of soapy water his little sister's poo-stained clothes had been soaking in and then decided, since the water tasted so horrible, that he would spray Shout on his tongue. We were having a good laugh when I noticed that Rachel had, once again, stooped over to pick something up.

"Speaking of kids putting things in their mouths..." I said as I walked over to examine what she had found.

Unfortunately she noticed me coming before I reached her and she quickly took a bite of what she was holding. I ran the last few steps to where she was standing and looked at what she was holding: a big clod of dirt.

She had bitten off such a big piece that she could hardly close her mouth around it, but she was rather intent on ingesting it and was trying to chew and swallow as much as she could before I could stop her.

Oddly enough, although she kept trying to eat the dirt, she would wrinkle up her face in disgust. Obviously she was at odds with herself. She'd already gotten this far and wanted to finish it, but it really didn't taste that good.

I picked her up and held her upside down while I scooped dirt out of her mouth. She helped by spitting a little out, but mostly by biting my fingers.

I could not believe the amount of dirt that came out of her mouth; probably close to a quarter cup. It was ridiculous. Dirt was falling out all over.

When I had gotten out all I could I flipped her right side up. She looked at me and smiled a big, muddy grin, and then she giggled and gagged.

"We're going to go home and get a drink of water," I announced.

Rachel was not too happy about going inside, but she was plenty happy to drink out of a big girl cup. She loves water, especially if it comes in a cup.

I gave her a few sips and wiped her face clean of mud, and then we headed back outside to play. We stayed at the playground for most of the day, coming in when it was time to make dinner.

I'm tired.