Full On Orange

Have you ever experienced an orange? Not just eaten one, but really experienced it?

Sunday morning, KJ and I were sitting on the deck watching the fish jump in the lake. Val walked up top and brought us 2 oranges. "Perfect", I thought, "time to help KJ enjoy the moment." Val returned inside leaving KJ and I to enjoy the oranges.

The back drop for enjoying an orange is the 5 senses. Each one of them can be leveraged while eating anything, but the orange is a champ at delivering on all of them.

First up, the texture. I told KJ to close her eyes and hold the orange. She told me it was bumpy, but smooth. I asked her to smell it, and so she took a long kid type inhale. I asked her the color, she laughed, with her eyes closed and said, "ORANGE!" :)

We then slowly pushed our fingernails into the skin and we broken the outer layer free. Juice started to squirt causing more laughs as some of it hit her on her cheek. Her hands felt around the white pulp and she again smelled the fruit.

She then pushed her fingers into the oranges center so that she could break away the orange chunks ... these oranges were from Chile and were seedless, although KJ says they are from WalMart (I've got to fix that!).

As we peeled the sections apart, I told KJ to listen to the sounds. She heard the slight tearing sound. Then another sniff. We broke a few of the orange slices in half exposing the raw meaty part of the orange, with the fibrous insides fully exposed. KJ then took another whiff. "WOW! That smells GOOD!" KJ exclaimed.

"Are you ready to eat them?", I asked. "YES!" She took a slow bite from one of the orange sections. Her eyes wide open, like she was just given a present, she slowly chewed it. Once done she burst out with "it is the best Orange ever daddy!"

We talked about the various tastes, the sweet, the sour, and even the biting of the acid on her tongue.

The single Orange experience lasted a wonderful 20 minutes. She experienced real life at that moment; I experienced serious daddy pride as I helped her see the world. It wasn't about consuming an orange, it was about experiencing the orange.