My child, the budding scientist

Most girls like bunnies and kittens, my child has always had a thing for bugs and today she proudly caught a lizard. OK she does still love bunnies and kittens but we won't let her have any, instead we got her a pink snake. No I'm not kidding, when she was 4 she met a snake a neighbor boy had and just had to get one for herself. So that Christmas she asked for a pink snake. Not one to disappoint his child's bizarro taste (he's used to it, his wife has owned snakes, chinchillas, and whatnot) the dh came and asked me if there was such thing as a pink snake. Oh yeah, it's a question all husbands would ask their wife isn't it? And yet I did have an answer, of course there are pink snakes, don't you know mother nature caters to her chosen ones, the little girls of the world that must have all their reptiles in a fashionable color. Right? Of course.

So that year, at the age of 5, my dd got an albino corn snake, which translates to pink in the real world. And so our zoo was expanded to include the wee little itty bitty Sarah. She was the size of a pencil when we got her, curled up onto a circle about the size of a silver dollar. I'll get you all a picture of her later this week, in the last 2 years she has gotten..bigger. Oh my yes she's a healthy snake and we can not believe how large she has gotten. The dd will take empty toilet paper cardboard rolls (I save them to recycle but they never seem to make it down to the bin) and create an obstacle course of sorts with them for Sarah and oddly, the snake goes through it. Hey it works and the kid's classmates (especially the boys) think that she's sooo cool because she owns a snake. Did I tell ya'll the kid has figured out that hanging out with the boys is way funner than hanging with the girls? Good for her right? DH is not so enamored of this discovery. It took me until much later in life to figure this fact out so I'm just glad she's ahead of the curve. Bets have it she'll get in less trouble being best buds with the boys than if she is always with the girls. Girls are evil, don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise, it's true. A group of three boys may raid your kitchen to use your utensils as digging tools, a group of three girls will take over the world and leave nothing but destruction in their path. Manipulative little beasties.

BTW, the dh is on strict directions that the lizard containment program at our house is a strict catch and release program. Must be done well before sundown so as to let the thing warm up and be able to find a good hiding spot before Roxy comes out, that dog lives to hunt lizards. She will stare at a tree trunk a lizard has gone up for hours.