This Is What's Awesome About a 3YO

I'm not sure if anyone else will get where I'm going with this, but here goes....

When we were in Lake Geneva, the public bathroom near the swimming pool had one of those automatic paper towel dispensers (which, if there's ever some sort of large-scale disaster that kills power everywhere, no one will be able to wash their hands what with all the automated sinks, soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers).

So Sadie (having washed her hands) goes over to get a paper towel. She quickly worked out the whole "automated" thing. But here's the part I found hysterical. She waved her hands in front of the sensor, and a paper towel came out. She used it. The motion set off the dispenser, and another paper towel came out. She used that one too. Which made *another* paper towel come out.

For a few minutes, Sadie just kept taking the paper towels (prompting the machine to spit out even more paper towels). They were there, so she had to keep taking them, right? Like, it would be a slap in the face to the machine NOT to take a paper towel if it was on offer.

Eventually, she shook her head in exasperation and said, "This just keeps giving me paper towels." And then she finally walked away.

[And yes, I probably could have/should have intervened--think of all the wasted paper towels!--but it seemed like such an interesting social experiment to me. Plus, it was really kind of funny.]

This might be one of those "you had to be there" kinds of stories, but it was really kind of priceless. The best part is that she did this EVERY time we used that bathroom. [And yes, okay, I know I should have explained it to her, but if you had watched her intereactions with the dispenser--the way she treated it like it was living thing--I'm willing to bet you wouldn't have intervened either.]

I think this says something kind of interesting about the three-year-old mind, but I can't quite put into words what exactly that is. I suppose you could just conclude that my particular three-year-old isn't particularly smart, but I *know* that's not it. (Remember: This is the child that asked me--at 18 months!--how Santa gets into the house. She is really quite bright.) Then again, maybe it says something interesting about Sadie's personality more so than about her age. I don't know, dear reader. By this point, it probably just seems like I'm making an awfully big deal about a bunch of wasted paper towels. Can't really disagree with you there. You should just be grateful I'm not one of those people that can go on for hours about my child's poop.