Meeting New Mammals

Easter treats for classmates. We taped watercolored bunny faces to red tumblers filled with shredded magazine pages and plastic eggs rattling with candy. We considered making homemade play dough to fill the eggs, but our energy levels are low as we are still recovering. Besides, the children will probably have a lot of fun with the shredded paper; Maya has been happily tossing it around and letting it "rain."

We have been reading about and looking at pictures of some of the beautiful animals of Africa. Aunt Sharon went on a business trip to Cape Town, and after looking the globe, the kids decided that she is at the bottom of the world. Nathan wondered if she might see penguins since Antartica looks relatively close on the globe. Coincidentally, Aunt Sharon sent a photo of some penguins she saw on the beach. Nathan has been enthusiastically looking up animals' names and habitats in books and online. Those dictionary audio pronuniciations have been very helpful, and now we know how to say "gemsbok," "eland," and "kudu" properly...to which Aunt Sharon replied: "They are delicious."

While Nathan and I have been talking about animals, Maya has appeared less interested. She liked looking at them and flipping through books, just not as intensely as her brother. Days later when I asked her about her favorite African animal, however, she thought for a bit and then announced: "The bongo." We had to go back and look up that one while Maya watched us. She knows that she knows.... Nathan is most intrigued by the endangered animals and he hopes that "people will make what they made for the buffaloes." Our young conservationationists: start now.