As documented in many a photo, Matilda is quite smell obsessed. She gets it from her father. A common game around here is for Matilda to pick up an object, give it a good sniff (complete with wrinkled face and nose), and then hold it out to each person or stuffed toy present to sniff. She explains what you are expected to do by making a big sniffy face while offering the designated item. This is sometimes followed by a sniffing rampage where anything not tied down is subject to this olfactory inspection.
Yesterday, while walking along the pier in Santa Barbara Matilda was carrying a piece of driftwood when we ran into a family with a little girl around 3 years old. Matilda marched right up to her and after a quick button appraisal deemed her worthy of sharing in the sniffy game: Matilda shoved the stick sideways right up under the stranger's nose. The poor little girl just froze, looking to her Mom for guidance. Sensing some confusion, Matilda put the stick under her own nose and gave it a sniff, as if to say, "It's for smelling, like this." And then she offered again. We decided at this point to intervene and release the very polite family, continuing our own walk. Our explanation to Matilda that not everyone wants to smell her driftwood sent the litlle girl's family into peels of laughter. The whole interaction cracked us up and we spent part of the drive home replaying possible thoughts going through the little girl's head.
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