Wood

It is amazing to me all the things I take for granted that I know, that being a mom, and seeing the world through the eyes of a child have opened my eyes to.

Today I was taking my kids for a walk, and Cinderella noticed a tree stump, and wanted to know why that tree had been cut down. I told her that maybe the tree was sick, or maybe it was growing too big, or close to other trees. I forgot about the comment and moved along. A little while later she asked me if they cut the tree down to take it to the Dr. I told her you don't take trees to the Dr. when they get sick, you just cut them down. Now I know that there are people who sometimes come and look at sick plants to see if there can be anything done to save them, which I guess is like a tree Dr. but I didn't think of that at the time.

She then wanted to know what people do with a tree when they cut it down. I told her they cut it into pieces of wood and make things out of it. She said "like fires?" My response was that yes you can make fires from wood, but people also use wood to build things, like houses and furniture. By this time we were passing a sign that had a wooden post. I pointed to the post and told her how it was made out of wood. She then started thinking about all kinds of things that are made out of wood, as well as other materials. As we completed our walk, she would point to different things and ask if they were made out of wood. If they weren't I would then tell her what they were made of. I think she finally grasped the concept, because by the time we got home, she was able to point out different things in our home that are made out of wood.