NLDline

Water & Water

The kids were taking a bath. Kara Grace, who is 5, decided to pour herself a drink of water out of the bathtub faucet. Jacob, who has NLD and is 8, started to hop out of the tub to get his water from the sink.

I said he was welcome to do that, but explained that all the water comes from the same place. He stood there with one leg in the tub considering, and with much anxiety, decided to take his water from that faucet as well.

He looked at it carefully, sniffed it, and ultimately sipped it like it was poisoned. Then he got that crumpled up look on his face that tells me he's getting overwhelmed. Gently, I told him he was welcome to pour that water out, and start again with water from the sink.

He decided to choke it down, and then refill his cup with sink water to do a taste test. Suddenly, in a flash of (really belated) insight, I said "Jacob, when I told you as a toddler not to drink from the bathtub, I meant
not the water you were soaking in!"

"Oh Mom", he replied, "Could you go back in time and be more precise?" We all had a good laugh (precision is Jacob's middle name). Then he announced the results of his taste test, "The water from both faucets taste identical!"

It was a classic NLD moment.

Kathleen