Taking the turtle in stride

by Linda Lee (Subscribe to Linda Lee's posts) Jun 18th 2008 8:00AM

Categories: Toddlers

This weekend we discovered that the baby is officially upright enough to ride in the backpack carrier -- huzzah! LOVE the backpack carrier! -- and we embarked on a leisurely walk around our neighborhood, glorying in the Seattle sunshine that we haven't seen for several rain-soaked weeks. Riley, our 3-year-old, galloped ahead of us shouting "FOLLOW RIWWY" and stopping to inspect and blow on any seed-headed dandelions (which he calls "candle flowers", could you just die).

When we got to a nearby small park, there was a gigantic tortoise in the grass. Really! A tortoise. Its owner, a man we've encountered before, was standing nearby as the tortoise slowly traversed a hill, smiling with what I can only describe as paternal turtle pride. He informed us the tortoise's name was Timmy, and that she was a female.

Timmy is maybe the biggest damn specimen of her kind I have ever seen. Her armored shell is wide enough for an adult to have a seat, her prehistoric legs are massive and sturdy and covered in giant scales. She cruised along the lawn, snacking on leaves, and I held Riley's hand as we approached to get a closer look.

I expected him to FREAK. OUT. I expected squeals of excitement, loud exclamations over the exotic beast, possibly even fear and cries of NO LIKE IT MOMMY. Instead, he informed Timmy's owner with a matter-of-fact-air that hey, there was a TUTTLE right there, and then he pointed out our Labrador and announced that right THERE was our DOGGIE!

And that was about it. No particular surprise whatsoever that there was an insanely huge turtle trudging along like some sort of living fossil, just . . . hey, there's a tuttle.

I sort of love this about little kids, that their worldview is so unpredictable -- where on one hand, things like tricycle-sized turtles make perfect sense, and on the other, woe to all of mankind if you serve up their milk in the GWEEN cup instead of the BYOO one.

Has your kid ever reacted to something in a way you never would have guessed, either by being under- or overwhelmed?

Comments (8)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kate 6-18-2008 @ 12:24PM

OMG Linda, your son is my window on my son in a couple of months! My 26-month-old pulls the same stuff. He absolutely loves any and all construction machines, IN BOOKS. A friend of ours had a Backhoe in to dig out for the foundation of his new garage, and my husband decided to introduce our son to the real thing. Complete freak out! Two weeks later, he still shrieks "No Chris's" anytime we visit that side of town, and yells at any construction equipment that he sees to "Go home".

Thanks for keeping me laughing!

Jeff 6-18-2008 @ 12:36PM

A couple weeks ago my four year old caught a caterpillar in a little cup. Of course he wanted to bring it home, so we bought a little bug house to put it in and brought it home. The next week it had turned into a cacoon and we were excited to show him this miracle of nature.

He was devastated. Crying, sobbing, wailing for his caterpillar. He didn't want a cacoon or even a butterfly. He wanted a caterpillar, he informed us.

This morning we discovered that a butterfly (moth, actually) had emerged and was ready to be let go. He looked at it for a few moments quietly and then said, "Dad, can we find another caterpillar?"

Tamyu 6-18-2008 @ 1:42PM

My son is utterly and completely in shock and awe over cats. If he spots a cat, he goes into an utter frenzy, shrieking in joy "Cat!!!!!" and jumping around pointing at it. He HAS to follow it, he HAS to watch it`s every move, and would just LOVE to pet it (but cats are smart enough to run when a shrieking child runs in their direction.)

It doesn`t seem all that strange, lots of kids love cats, etc... Except, you see, we HAVE 2 cats. He is in contact with them *everyday*, and ignores them 90% of the time. They`re friendly with him, and sleep next to him.

But those outside cats, wow, you`d think he had never seen a real live cat in his life.

Sabrina 6-18-2008 @ 2:41PM

My son, 23 months old, has an irrational fear of housepets. Cats, dogs, big, small, it really doesn't matter. Even the kitties behind the glass at the animal shelter. I figured he'd get really upset by the tiger at the zoo that was less than INCHES from his face, seperated only by glass, but no...there he goes smiling and pointing and saying "kitty!" with a gleeful tone. I still can't understand it!

Jenn 6-18-2008 @ 3:02PM

Sometimes when I go to pick up my 28-months daughter at the babysitter, she points out everyone and names them: "This is Gwamma, dis Nick dis Megan!" Then she points to me "And dis MOMMY!!"

When her father gets up in the morning and comes out to the living room, she goes to grab his hand, pulls him over to me, and says "Look, Mommy! Dis is Daddy!"

Because, you know....we just don't know who these people are that we see every day of our lives :-)

nonsoccermom 6-18-2008 @ 5:09PM

Yep. When my son was totally into Thomas the Tank Engine we spent a ton of money to go ride the "real" Thomas. You know, the engine made to look like Thomas? It involved a 6 hour round-trip drive and a stay in a hotel, so it wasn't like it was the next town over. He didn't care. Like, at all. And I thought he would be totally thrilled. You just never know with little kids I guess. They are certainly unpredictable.

eugene 6-18-2008 @ 5:32PM

My 27 month old son woke me up from our afternoon nap screaming "mommy-ish! mommy-ish!". I thought my wife had come home early and looked around. Not seeing her, I told him to go back to sleep and rolled over. He kept shaking me and saying "mommy-ish" only now I saw he was clutching something in his hand....

A strand of my wife's hair.

kelly 6-19-2008 @ 8:16AM

My 26 month old is animal obsessed. We were so excited to take him to the big zoo instead of the county zoo so he could see things like elephants, zebras and giraffes. He checked out the zebra with a "meh" attitude; but the SIGN with a PICTURE of a zebra? Holy cow! The best thing he's ever seen of course.

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