K: “Now YOU smell the flowers.”

S’s favorite book is Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt. What a classic! First published in 1940, it’s probably easier to count the number of us who did not have a copy of Pat the Bunny than those of us who did. And as it is with all classic literature, there is much to be learned from the reading and rereading and rereading… and rereading of this favorite.

“Paul can smell the flowers. Now YOU smell the flowers.” And mimicking mommy, S presses his tiny little nose into the pages of the book.

Over the weekend we went outside to play in the courtyard of our apartment complex. There are flower beds in the center of the courtyard where bright colored roses are blooming.

“Look S, mommy can smell the roses. Now YOU smell the roses.” And while mommy spots him, S bends over and presses his tiny little nose into the petals of a rose.

There are many roses in the flowerbeds and S is an equal opportunity sniffer. He successfully bent over to smell several roses (without help), and then it happened… He tumbled. Face first. Into a bed of rose bushes. N came running, I scooped him up, S came up hollering, and I honestly don’t know who was the most traumatized by the experience. Blood oozed from the scratches on his face while daddy removed a thorn from his scalp and mommy hunted for further injury.

S recovered emotionally even before the bleeding stopped, and his scratches are healing very quickly. But we’ll probably practice some more with Paul and Judy before we stop to smell the roses again.

“That’s all. Bye-bye. Can you say Bye-bye? Paul and Judy are waving Bye-bye to YOU.”