Mmmm...Smells Like...Water

I love rain. I love the smell that lingers in the air right before and the clean fresh smell afterwards. I love the sound of it (especially if thunder is involved), and the patterns it makes as it runs down windows. I also love kids in the rain. Kids and water is just a fun combination. Water seems to have this magical power over kids. They never cease to be fascinated by it. Essential to every child’s wardrobe is a pair of galoshes. Rain boots or whatever else you call them. Stella is learning to get excited about rain, because it means she gets to don her boots and raincoat (coordinating, of course), and go splash around. Yesterday was no exception. Our predicted storm turned out to be a dud, at least in the East Bay. Though we didn’t get the anticipated amount of water, it rained nonetheless. We found the biggest puddle around and Stella paced, stomped, and kicked her way through that puddle. She also found rocks to throw in the puddle as well. Since the water was quite murky, she kept tripping over the stones she was tossing. After a few minutes, I had to squat down, and, whenever her back was turned, fish out the tripping hazards, and toss them aside, so Little Miss could run through with minimal incident.
We also found a smaller puddle that had a worm in it. It was moving, and wiggling around enough to keep Stella’s attention for a few minutes. I am not a fan of picking up bugs (I don’t care if that makes me a sissy girl); however, I will pick them up for kids. I just think kids need the experience of holding a bug in their hands, if that is what they want to do. Though I am not at all a fan of picking up worms, Stella seemed so fascinated that I offered to let her hold it, or even hold it myself, so she could take a closer look. I got as far as “Do you want to hold…...”, when Stella immediately backed away from me at the prospect of touching the creature wiggling at the bottom of the puddle. She seemed perfectly content to just watch from above, as it squirmed around at a safe distance from her face. I guess I’m not the only sissy girl on the block.