Our Little Animal Lover

Keith and I cannot nail down when Kate's admiration of all things animal began. Whether it's books, her Animal Baby magazine or DVDs, stuffed creatures or living, if it is an animal, Kate is hooked.

She gravitated toward her animal books early on--the touch and feel kind--and just always has shown special interest in books featuring animals. She surprised me just before her 2nd birthday while I was reading Eric Carle's Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? one evening. She started naming the animals as I turned the page. And these are not easy animals to name: “macaroni penguin, water buffalo, bald eagle… Wow.

As I mentioned, Kate's love of animals extends well beyond books. One of her favorite places to visit is the Central Florida Zoo. After more than twenty trips, she can name every animal in the place. From the kangaroos and leopards to the frogs and newts, she thoroughly enjoys each visit and truly every species. Well, she isn't too crazy about the bug exhibit...but neither am I!

When the Gymboree safari animal line came out last May, I bought several outfits for Kate, which she aboslutely still loves to wear 4 months later. They came in handy this summer as she insisted on wearing them to her Cub Club classes at the zoo and to her Kindermusik classes that featured a "Zoo Train" curriculum. Both activities involved creating craft projects and our refrigerator is now adorned with several of her favorites...a giraffe, kangaroo, monkey, pig, bird and rooster. Kate so enjoyed her Zoo Train CD from Kindermusik that she made me play it 3 and 4 times a day for several weeks. Not only can she sing many of the songs, but she recognizes the order of the songs on the CD and tells me what's coming up next.

Kate doesn't just love land animals, either. She adores Shamu and many of the sea creatures we visit at Sea World, though the Polar Bears are possibly her favorite (after Shamu, of course).

While we spend a lot of our time between Sea World and the Central Florida Zoo, we have branched out to other animal experiences, also. She totally loves the safari ride and walk at Animal Kingdom as well as the petting zoo there.

When we visited Detroit in May, we were sure to revisit the Detroit Zoo. Kate really liked seeing the giraffes, zebra and other animals we don't see at our zoo. We also visited Kensington Metro Park's farm center where she was able to see numerous baby animals...lambs, goats, etc. It was the first time she heard a cow "moo" and was actually a bit shocked by how deep and loud it sounded. I think she was a little shocked at how large the pigs were, also. She started walking up to one to pet it through the fence, but then quickly began backing away when she noticed it was HUGE and covered with mud.

The one thing that is most surprising to me is how much I am learning along with Kate. I never realized how little I knew about animals before she came along (or so many other things). Who knew a 2-1/2 year old could provide so much enlightenment?!