lincoln park zoo

remember the deer that i wrote about way back in the beginning? well, that experience of looking for the deer in the woods continues on today. way back in the winter, as we looked for the deer, e's thoughts became consumed by the deer. being a contemplative sort of girl, she was filled with questions. frequently, she throws her list of questions at me, and i do my best at giving her the answers. it is challenging.

e: momma, what do the deer eat?

m: they eat grass and leaves, baby.

e: momma, where are their houses?

m: they don't have houses, babe. they live in the woods.

e: where do they sleep then?

m: they sleep in the woods. they use leaves and sticks to make little beds. (you can see her trying to wrap her 3 year old brain around this, and creating images of sleigh beds and canopy beds throughout the woods.)

e: well, what do they use for pillows?

e: and blankets, mom? what do they cover themselves with?

e: do they have nightlights and noisemakers?

you see, well e doesn't care much for bedtime, she cares a lot about being cozy. she likes things to be a specific way and has a need for order in her bedroom and in her mind. she can't just wrap her head around a deer calling the dirt its bed and its fur its blanket. and so we have this same conversation over and over again. i try, like any momma would, to help her make sense out of this. i'm just not sure she believes me. secretly, she's holding out hope that i'm wrong and that they have little deer houses with little deer beds... and pillows and blankets and maybe even a little lovie that they hold onto while sucking their hoof to help them fall asleep. just like she does.

as spring has turned to summer, the frequency of this chat has increased. we don't see many deer in the summer, so she has moved on to other animals. usually, once a day, i get asked about some animal and their living conditions, specifically questions pertaining to sleep.

e: momma, where do the birds sleep?

e: momma, how about the bunnies? do they have pillows?

i am simultaneously humored and annoyed by this line of questioning. it is adorable that she cares so much and is really trying to process the well being of other creatures. and at the same time, it is annoying because it is non-stop. (if you know three year olds, you won't judge me for using the word annoyed. i mean it in the kindest way.) just when i think we've solved the mystery of where the animals sleep, she thinks up a new animal.

i was telling scott about this line of questioning the other night over pillow-talk. he started laughing and told me that on saturday, while they were chalking on the sidewalk, she had hit him up with the same type of questions. she wanted to know about the ants. apparently she was looking for confirmation that mom knows what she is talking about. or maybe, she's given up on mom's version and has turned to daddy for the truth. (i'm telling y'all, she won't rest on this topic until we confirm her suspicions. she really wants to believe that they are cozy, safe and secure in their beds each night, blanket and all.)

and so yesterday, like a good retired science teacher would, i took my babe to the zoo. we spent the day inspecting animals. we analyzed what they had to eat and we searched for the ones that were sleeping. not a pillow or a blanket did we find, but truth be told, i still think she's still holding out hope.

btw: to make the zoo trip more exciting, i dragged along my friend holly. she's visiting from Atlanta again and was a good sport on this 95 degree day. the picture shows their snow-cone colored tongues. i can just guess that e thinks the lions get a snow cone every afternoon at about 3:00, too. her science teacher is going to hate me a few years from now.