dandelions

shortly before her september trip to thunder bay, the dandelions in the park started going to seed. i picked a couple one day and showed ava how to blow the seeds off. to my surprise, while ava was in thunder bay, her grandfather reported that she was picking dandelions and trying to blow the seeds off.

after she got back, ava continued the dandelion routine. however, in addition to bringing me dandelions ready for blowing, she started bringing me the bare stems of dandelions that had already completely lost their seeds. i found this level of plant recognition really surprising - i can't believe she can distinguish between a dandelion stem and the 100 other species of flowers, weeds and grass that grow in the lawn.