Reptiles

One thing that I really like about all the daily deal sites that are around now is that I find out about events and places that I never would have known about before.

A week or two ago, I got one for discounted tickets to a reptile expo in my town.  I am always looking for ways to entertain Madie on the weekends, so I bought a pair of tickets and yesterday myself, my mom, and Madie ventured over to a hotel by the MOA to check out the event which promised to have "reptiles, reptiles and more reptiles!". It did not disappoint. I may have a little girl, but man does she love snakes and frogs and turtles. 

The room it was held in was medium sized, but crammed with tables full of every reptile that you could think of.  Along with the odd tarantula or scorpion.  At one point Madie went running over to a HUGE glass cage with a MASSIVE boa in it and wiggles her finger at the snake going "Awww hi baby!!". Only this kid. There was also bins of little lizards and she wanted to hold them, which she did. She let me set them in her little hand and she was so gentle. But then she started to want to pick them up herself and as gentle as a two year can try to be, they are still two and so we moved on for fear of squishing any little critters between her little fingers.  She touched snakes and lizards and frogs and big lizard-thingies-what-are-they-called-who-knows.

We came across a man with a small alligator (about 3 ft long) who was letting a little girl who looked to be about 5 or 6 sit on the floor with the gator in her lap and get her picture taken.  Madie was enthralled. We asked her if she would like to hold the alligator and she nodded so we waited our turn and she sat right down and had the gator placed in her lap.  She sat there so good and so calm and maybe there was a little tiny bit of apprehension in her eyes, but I was so proud of her because even at her age, she knows if there is something that she wants to try, even if it is out of her comfort zone and she just goes for it.  Afterwards, she said "I was a little shy". And I told her that it was okay to be shy, but that it was SO neat that she held that alligator. And she knew it was.  She was proud of herself too.

Last night/morning, she woke up and Jason went and got her and she came and crawled into bed with me.  Before we fell back to sleep, she whispered to me:

"Hey mom, you know what?"

"What honey?"

"Me and you are friends."

"Yes we are honey, best friends."

"And Daddy is a friend too. He is a big friend and you are a little bit big friend and I am a little friend."

I love her more than words.