Rattler

Yesterday we took the kids to the park. Deron took Eliott over to the dog run and I brought the boys up this little nature walk they have which is a zig zag walk way with rails. It's good for them because they can't fall off the edge and the view at the top is really nice. On the way back down I pointed out a sign to Davey, "Rattle Snake Habitat" it said with a big photo of a rattle snake. Davey knows an awful lot about animals due to extensive viewing of Zaboomafoo, Wild Kratts and Go Diego Go. Yes, he watches a lot of television. I'm sorry but Diego teaches him about animals and how to speak 10 words in Spanish with a bad American accent, so I feel it's more than justified. Anyway, I thought he'd think this rattle snake sign was cool, so I pointed it out to him. He did think it was cool and started asking me more about rattle snakes: are they poisonous? (yes), can you die if one bites you? (yes)

I ran off after Jasper who decided it would be fun to run down the entire path and fall on his face every 20 feet or so. Then I noticed that Davey was way behind us. He was walking very slowly in the exact center of the path clutching his water bottle to his chest, his eyes darting back and forth to either side of the trail. At first I didn't register what he was doing. He has a lot of imaginary friends and he'll often duck out of a situation and confer with them. I finally picked up Jasper and walked back to him. "Davey what are you doing honey? What's going on?" He squeaked out, "I so scared." Now I felt horrible, don't get me wrong because I think he truly was scared but he can really inject a level of drama into a situation like nobodies business. He was staring in his own little horror movie. It was pretty adorable. I was like, "oh no. I'm so sorry sweetie! I didn't mean to scare you! Are you afraid that a rattle snake is going to bite you?" "Uh huh" he responded, breathlessly. I was like, "Ok, let's stop and talk about this. I'm really sorry that I forgot to tell you a bunch of things about rattle snakes."

And then I went on to explain that they are more afraid of you than you are of them and that they don't like to come out near people and that they like to hide in holes and disguise themselves as a rock. I told him that the best thing about rattle snakes is their cool rattle. That they use it as a warning to stay away and that if he ever hears the rattle he should stay away, don't go over and investigate, just walk slowly in the other direction and they will leave you alone. He said, "but if it looks like a rock, what if I step on it and then it will bite me?" and I told him that yes this was a possibility and that's why they post the signs so that people will watch out where they are stepping and open their ears so that they can listen for the rattle warning.

Well all of this new information helped quite a bit. He let go of all of his tension and walked happily with Jasper and I the rest of the way. While he was standing at the car waiting for me to unlock the door, I could hear him talking to his imaginary friends, "What did his mom say?" one of them said and then Davey replied, "Turns out, there's nothing to be afraid of!" They were all happy to hear that. When he got back in his seat he said, "I'm going to tell daddy all about rattle snakes! They are our friends!" to which I replied, "Yes, they are our friends who we don't want to ever walk near or touch because they might bite us."

In his mind animals are either good or bad. There is no in between.

When we got home we sat on the computer and looked at videos of rattle snakes for a while. He was transfixed.

Fun stuff.