Baby is digging the soil and playing with her toy.

Ah, dirt. You hate what it means for the time you have to spend doing laundry, but your kid can’t resist touching it, jumping in it, feeling it. What gives?

When I think of kids playing in the dirt, I flash back to when we lived in the city and my older son was just a toddler. We went out for a typical urban brunch one Sunday with friends who had a child the same age. After the meal, as we walked home, the two kids managed to find a teeny patch of dirt around a tree planted between sidewalk pavers. It was the only “nature” for blocks, and the kids were drawn to it like magnets.