Shark Attack

I purchased a small surprise for each of the kids the other day after a trip to a zoo while on vacation. I have fun giving them little gifts when they don't expect it, when we are on vacation especially. And since I do not do it often, I feel it is justified. I just picked them each up a small plastic animal:

Scotty named his salamander - Skinker
Jack named his owl - Peck
Elaina named her pink bird -Rosy
Ben named his turtle- Spike
Charlie named his Cockatoo- Flappy (love that name)

Sometimes as a mom I find myself saying the strangest things. The other day I found myself saying, "Oh, Oh, never go after a penis with a grabby thing."

And today I found myself saying to my 5 yr old, "You are the survivor of a hammerhead shark bite!!! That is sooo awesome!" Yes, it is true, a hammerhead shark bit Ben. At the zoo while petting the sting rays and hammerhead sharks, a hammerhead turned while being petted gently by Ben and his teeth injured him. I am not sure if he actually bit down, or if the teeth scraped his thumb, but blood was drawn and Ben is now I am sure forever terrified of petting the sharks. And today just happened to be the first day he ever was brave enough to try to pet them. I had told him the sharks didn't have their teeth anymore. (I really didn't think they did.) I hope he can trust me again some day. So, after first aid and many zoo members came to the rescue and asked us some questions, and Ben got over his belly ache from being terrified by a shark, we headed off to find a stuffed hammerhead shark. Incidentally, we could not find one as as big as the one that bit him! So he has a small token to commemorate his bravery.

The shark attack was the ending of an overnight with Ben, and our friends at the zoo for a little parent and child camp program last night. Myself and my friend were disappointed with the potential for this program that was not met by any means. An overnight at the zoo could be AMAZING. This was not. The amazing news however, is that our 5 yr old boys are such sweethearts and so innocent and easy, that they had a blast just being together and with us and seeing a few animals. Love that they are easily enthused. Not to diminish how enthusiastic their mothers were at keeping them excited by playing animal guessing games and staying generally upbeat the whole time : ) Little pats on the back for us.

3 yr old Charlie's joke:
Charlie: knock knock
Me: Who's there?
Charlie: Fire
Me: Fire who?
Charlie: Fire will kill you! Ha ha that a funny one huh?
Me: No, actually that is pretty scary
Charlie: Oh, ya, we will tell it at Halloween.