Ah, to be a toddler . . .

It is really apparent from watching Emily that a toddler's life is just filled with all sorts of amazing and wonderful things. Because we don't have any pets (besides the fish), Emily rarely gets to see and touch real animals. She recently got to go to both a petting zoo and the real zoo. I think the petting zoo was simultaneously fascinating and a bit intimidating. She loved touching the animals, but also wasn't sure what to expect from them.

As for the real zoo, she was really fascinated by all the animals and watched them intently. She was even fascinated with the reptile displays - watching the fish, crocodiles, sea turtles, lizards, and snakes. Of course, when given the chance to actually touch a milk snake (very long and skinny, but harmless), she quickly declined. Below she is having a great time enjoying the mist that keeps the visitors cool on hot days (which we have a lot of).

Other signs that Emily's world is really fascinating come from the names that she applies to things, which always make me laugh and can't help but stimulate the imagination. A few that have made me smile:

She refers to the yoga mat as the "yogurt mat"
She refers to the pool guy as the "cool guy"
She believes that the mummies in her Halloween book are "mommies"

Of course the ultimate toddler-ism came at dinner last night. We had soft shelled tacos with ground beef, which apparently we haven't had in awhile. As I put Emily in her chair, she took one look at Abbie's taco and said, "poop diaper." Admittedly, they did kind of look like poopy diapers, but that just isn't the image that any of us wanted in our heads as we sat down to eat. Needless to say, Emily elected to have pasta rather than joining us for "poop diapers."