Jack is an animal lover. He loves every animal he has ever encountered, regardless of the species or its appearance. I am going to attribute this to the fact that we have 3 cats. Our cats are not like normal cats in the sense that they are very engaged in our family. They are always around us. There is one right in front of my feet as I type this. They are generally always in the same room as we are. If all three aren’t 1-2 most definitely are. Two regularly sleep in our bed and the 3rd is usually in our room as well. I am guessing some will sleep with Jack when we allow his door to stay open.

We babied them a lot as kittens. So they are super clingy and super friendly. Jack is obsessed with them. Cat is one of his favorite words. He always enjoys pointing them out to me throughout the day.

Croc, as in Crocodile, is another favorite word. Show him an alligator or crocodile and he will exclaim “croc!” We were on our beach on afternoon and there was a log floating in the water, just off shore. He pointed and said “croc!” What a smart kid! People confuse crocs for logs all the time and get themselves in a pickle. Not Jackman, he knows. How he knows at 16 months is beyond me!

He calls all fish Sharks. It started with just sharks and now whenever he sees a fish of any kind he says SHARK! We were on the boat the other day and he just kept pointing to the water shouting “Shark!” He is seriously going to scare someone this summer but it is cute.

So what I am leading up to is yesterday. We attended a party at Petland. Jack was ecstatic! He was running around looking at puppies, hamsters, and bunnies. He really liked this one Boxer puppy. No matter how many I showed him he kept walking back to that particular dog and pointing and babbling. Trying to walk past the glass, even though he kept bumping into it. I was not surprised about the mammals. After all, he is very comfortable around mammals. There is always one within arms reach at home. I would love to get him a puppy but that will have to wait until we move next year.

Then we headed to the water section.

piranhas

Crazy ugly scary fish don’t phase Jackson! Look at him reaching for that tank. I know once we move we plan on getting a nice aquarium and having fish in our home but I don’t think I will be adding these to the list. 🙂 He loved all of the fish, or sharks as he called them. Was fascinated by them all. He even got to see a real baby shark. And a few other river monsters besides the piranhas. One that grows to over 6 feet long I believe the man explained. He really liked that one.

ball python

ball python

This ball python, a baby, was another favorite. He even grabbed it by the tail at one point. I had to keep a watchful hand on his arm, as you can see. Not because I was forcing him but because I had to restrain him a bit. He just wanted that thing in his hands. They weren’t supposed to touch its head and I know that would have been the next area he went for. My brother Dan has a grown ball python. I have to take Jack over there to see him sometime soon. He will love it!

some sort of lizard? I wasn’t around for this one. I was probably washing his binky off

I grew up with lots of lizards, newts, gecko type creatures. My brother Dan (the one that has the snake) always had a pet slimy thing when I was younger. Jack seemed to really like them. Jason said no way to him getting one as a pet. Sigh. If Jack wants a scaly creature as a pet later in life I am going to take him to the pet store and get him one. I will be the one to suck it up and get over my heebie jeebies and help Jack take care of his new buddy. He is just so curious about them. I have a feeling he will want one.

Jack and the labradoodle

This was later in the party. They brought some mammals for the kids to interact with. They were all supposed to sit in a nice circle and not go in the middle. My kid didn’t listen. But I explained to Jason you can’t reason that way with a 16 month old. He doesn’t grasp the concept you have to sit nice so you don’t crowd the dog and make it nervous. I let him break the rule a little. I watched the puppy for several minutes before letting Jack loose. I used my judgement. This dog was amazing with him. Plopped down in front of him like you see. Was fine with Jack’s wobbly gait in the circle. Jack loved throwing the red ball my cousin Liz has. One day I will also get that child a dog. We will have a regular petting zoo at our home. After this dog went away we let Jack play on his own with his cars. They brought all sorts of other creatures out for the kids but he was content playing with his cars by our table. I didn’t want him to keep breaking that rule. He got a lot of animal time in.

I am so happy my little man is so comfortable around furry and scaly friends. We are both big animal people. I guess it is not a surprise then. His heart is already so big. I love watching his face as he explores the world around him.