Playing in the dirt is often pegged as a boy activity but I think there is something therapeutic about playing in the dirt as a child regardless of gender. I remember when my family was building a new house, I was eight and my sister Audrey was 11. We played in the dirt piles made from the dug out foundation endlessly. We rolled in it, shoveled it, jumped in it, threw it, etc. When Kate found the tiny 2 x 2 area of dirt in front of our apartment my instinct was to quickly distract her with a cleaner activity, but I paused to recall the fond memories I have of dirt-time and decided to remove her clothes and let her go to town instead. I think she liked it because she was totally engrossed for about 10 minutes, a relative eternity for our 14-month-old.
