I have to say that I am very pleased with the library system here in Irving. I often tell Christopher, “I think the public library is one of the best uses of our tax dollars.” That may not be the case everywhere, but our library system is pretty awesome, and it definitely saves us a lot of money on books, CDs, DVDs, and entertainment.
Now that school is out, our libraries have even more events to take advantage of, and we started taking advantage of them today with our trip to “Snake Talk” at the Southwest Branch. I saw this on the schedule when I picked it up last week, but I didn’t think much of it since my son is only 9 months old, and I didn’t really think Sarah would be interested.
But then, as we were leaving for church yesterday morning, I thought I saw a worm wriggling about in our garage. I called Sarah’s attention to it before I realized it was actually a small snake. At that point, I asked Christopher to come take care of it because, let’s face it, that’s a man’s job if he’s there to do it. Thankfully, he was here – I know I could have done it, but it would not have been pleasant, and just thinking about it now sends shivers up and down my spine. Anyway, as Christopher took the snake out to the yard, he showed it to Sarah and asked if she wanted to touch it. She seemed a little nervous at first, but then she told us that it was “Charlotte.” Since watching Charlotte’s Web, repeatedly, she has taken to giving this name to any creature that could be harmful, but which she determines to be nice. Until yesterday, I thought this label could only be applied to bugs of all sorts, but apparently, it works for snakes, too. After Sarah deemed this snake to be a Charlotte, she was happy to touch it and got excited.
On the way to church, I remembered the Snake Talk scheduled at the library and decided to see what Sarah thought about it, and she was into it. I thought her interest might fade, but when I asked her about it this morning, she was still interested, though much less excited. Then, Pucci took a late nap and I let Sarah watch The Aristocats, even though I knew it wouldn’t be over before the Snake Talk, which began at 2:30. Pucci finally woke up at 1:45, so I told Sarah that she could either finish the movie now, or take a break to go see the snakes. I was pretty surprised when she jumped up to grab a friend and leave the movie behind.
When we got to the library, the floor of the small meeting room was already overcrowded, but everyone continued scooting in to make room for more. John Hunter, the snake man, brought about a dozen snakes with him. Of course, he started by showing us the smaller snakes, and telling us about what they eat and how their jaws work. As the talk went on, the snakes got bigger until he finally brought out a large boa constrictor and Burmese python. With every snake Mr. Hunter unveiled, Sarah exclaimed, “Look–real snakes!” At the end, he brought around Banana, his yellow Burmese python, for everyone to touch. Sarah was so excited, and before she got close enough to actually touch it, she ran back to me to tell me that it was sticking its tongue out. After she touched it the first time, she was hooked. She kept coming back to sit down with me, and then saying, “I want to touch it again.” All in all, I think she got up five times to pet the snake. It was adorable. And amazing. I mean, this 2 1/2 year old girl will lovingly pet a python five times, but she won’t even take one bite of a piece of lettuce at dinner. I don’t get it, but I’m proud of her. Maybe we’ll actually try out the reptile house next time we go to the zoo.