What's That Smell?

Pretty soon my ability to sniff out gross items is going to be right up there with the abilities of drug and bomb dogs. You know how those dogs get a whiff of something and then they follow the smell until they find the culprit? Well, that seems to be a perfect picture of what I do on a weekly basis. Whether it is a poopy diaper, curdled milk in a sippy cup left in the car, or a rotten banana in my purse, my nose can sniff it out. Ricky is actually getting very good at this a well. Together, we make a great "discovering the gross item" team.

On Sunday, upon returning from our trip, I was delighted to walk into my immaculate house. The cleaning lady had come while we were gone and I was thrilled to know that my house was actually clean for 3 days straight only because we were not in it. Anyways, I opened the door to the kids' room to appreciate it in its non-messy state, when my nostrils were grossly offended by a nasty odor. The room was spotless and yet there was putrid suffocating smell filling the room. My first instinct is always to assume that a nasty smell is poop. But, as I searched the room for a dirty diaper, I found nothing. I called in my fellow expert, my husband to help sniff out the offender. Because his first reaction was not a gag reflex, I knew it was not poop. I suggested that maybe there was a dead animal in the room. He sniffed out both cribs, the dirty clothes hamper, the dresser, and the closet. As he continued to sniff around the room, his nose led him to a diaper bag tucked in the corner behind Maia's crib. We had not used that diaper bag for at least 3 months. He held it at arm's length once he knew that the smell was coming from the bag and was going to just throw the bag in the outside trash. However, for my own educational purposes and for future reference, I asked him to search each compartment of the bag to discover the offender.

In the last compartment that he checked he pulled out a ziploc sandwich bag with a bunch of nasty colored liquid in it and a big chunk of something undefinable from the distance which I was viewing it. Ricky recognized it as lunch meat. Turkey to be exact. Now I know that the smell of turkey which has been sitting in a warm room for over 90 days resembles the smell of a dead rotting animal.

We were both very proud of our well-trained noses that day and we were happy to be rid of the lingering nastiness that had been in the kids' room for weeks (which I had attributed to the last poopy diaper I had changed or to Noah's farts).

With two young kids so close in age, this mommy often forgets to take food items out of diaper bags, purses, and cars which is why Ricky is so good at sniffing out gross items. I officially bestowed on Ricky the award for the Best Sniffer Outer of Gross Items. I will be having a plaque made tomorrow.