What's That Smell?

Like a blood hound trying to catch a scent, Dawson's most-used sensory organ is his nose.

Smelling good himself is one of Dawson's top priorities, and it's no surprise, considering he smells everything and everybody. I think his sense of smell helps him remember people, activities and, of course, what he eats.

Take his beloved blankie for instance. A couple of times we've left it at Grandma's house. A box with his blankie is always lovingly sent ASAP from Grandma. The first thing he does when he gets it out of the box is put it up to his face to take a big breath of blankie smell in. It's like he's confirming it's his own and not a phony. We have another Noah's Ark blanket that is strikingly similar to the hand-quilted one. We've tried in vain to trick him into using that one before. He takes it, smells it, and refuses it, because it's not his own!

New "Smell Goods" is one of the gifts he received for his birthday. Now he has his own personal stash of three different body sprays. He now likes to choose what scent he wants to wear any particular day by pointing to one of the three colored bottles of his. Hilarious to note, is the body sprays Mom and Dad got him are called, "Bod Man."

Guessing the scent on someone's breath is also one of Dawson's little smell games. He will come up on my lap or Travis's and give us a kiss. Then he returns his nose back close to our mouth and says, "What's that smell?" if he smells food. He can smell a peanut eaten 30 minutes ago on someone's breath! Chocolate, Pepsi, peanuts, anything spicy are among the foods he is best at discerning. I don't have to worry about going out of the house with bad breath. I have a child who'll tell me to go brush my teeth if my mouth isn't fresh enough for his particular standards!

Dawson runs up to Jillian when she first wakes up and bends down and smells her diaper area. He then announces, "Jillie's poopy, Mommy!" or "Jillie's not poopy, Mommy." Jillian seldom sits in a dirty diaper for more than five minutes on account of Dawson's discerning nose!