My sensitive girl

Maggie is a sensitive child in many ways. She rarely misses anything that is going on around her. Her senses are always tuned in, and she has an especially keen sense of smell.

When she was around 3, I remember sitting in the front seat of the car getting ready to drive somewhere. Maggie was in the back, buckled into her carseat. This kid LOVES candy (just like her grandma Carol!), and I had a hershey's kiss that I didn't want to share. I turned the radio on to drown out the sound of the candy wrapper crinkling, and I opened the kiss and popped it into my mouth. This whole time Maggie'd been gazing innocently out the window.

Then her face whipped around to look at the back of my head.

Maggie: "What do I smell, mama?"

Me: "I don't know what you smell, Maggie".

Maggie" "I think it's CHOCOLATE!"



So yesterday my kids took a field trip to the The Museum of Russian Art. It just opened in the building across the street from the church where the Kinderstube resides. As we were getting into the van at the end of the day, I asked the kids what they'd liked about Kinderstube. They both said that the field trip was fun, and that they had especially enjoyed a painting of a "nudie" riding on horse. Then they laughed themselves silly for about 5 minutes. Afterward, Maggie and I had this exchange:

Maggie: "I didn't like the smell in the museum. It smelled like grandma Carol's body".

Me: (perplexed) "Do you mean it smelled like her body when she was alive or when she was dead?"

Maggie: "when she was dead".

Me: "Did you say anything about this to your teachers?"

Maggie: "yes, I did!"

Me: (with curious smile) "And what did they say?"

Maggie: "They said 'Nein! Nein! Das ist nicht true!"

Today I asked the teacher what had happened. She said that she'd thought about Maggie's comments all afternoon, and she still didn't know what to make of them. She said that the experience was a little embarrassing because Maggie blurted her observation out (the first time!) in front of the museum tour guide. She did this as soon as the field trip kids were across the threshold.

I told the teacher that up until last fall, the building that the museum is now housed in was a funeral home. She didn't know this, because the Kinderstube just opened up in March '05. Despite all the painting and dramatic renovation that happened in and around the building this winter, Maggie's nose was still picking up the scent of formaldehyde? !

I don't know, but in any case, that's my sensitive girl!




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