Dirt

I recently read a Q&A -- the question was "At what age is it safe to allow my child to play in a sandbox?" A portion of the answer is: "Most children seem to take to the sandbox by around 12 to 18 months .... Babies and toddlers explore their world by mouthing things, though, and your child's likely to try to eat some sand the first time she encounters it.... Most kids will quickly discover that sand doesn't taste good, and stop eating it on their own."

So I decided to put that theory to the test. Both the boys love to play outside. Andrew especially loves digging in the dirt. And Eric is no longer content to just sit in the swing while Andrew digs. So last week I let Eric loose. He isn't walking yet, so I knew this would be very dirty.

As expected, Eric put dirt in his mouth...then one rock, and another, and another. Each time he would put something in his mouth he'd take it out and look at it like "Gross!" Then he'd put it down and proceed to pick up another rock to put in his mouth. I didn't wait long enough to reach the "rocks don't taste good, now stop eating" point. I figured he'd gotten enough extra minerals in for the day.