The exotic life of Jonah Grigg

Today as we were driving to the grocery store, I was telling my two-year-old what we were going to buy. (This was an attempt to distract him from the previous direction of our conversation, which was "I don't wanna go to grossy store.") So it went like this:

"We're going to buy apples, and bananas, and spinach, and cheese, and bread, and eggs, and turkey--"

"And turtle?"

"Turtle?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Yeah. We're going to buy turtle at the grocery store. And oats, and yogurt, and sour cream..."

I lied. Turtle wasn't on my list. I was just trying to get him on board for our errand.

I can absolutely see his logic on this one. A turkey is an animal that starts with "tur." We are buying it at the grocery store. A turtle is also an animal that starts with "tur." We will also buy that at the grocery store. He has no idea that that's weird and gross.

It reminded me of the oddness our Zoo Boise annual pass has introduced into our lives. We got it two weeks ago and have visited the zoo three times since then. +Jonah takes all those animals for granted now. Yes, he's excited to see the giraffes and lions and penguins, but he's also excited to see the squirrels and geese. When we go for walks, every dog is an event, as is every cat.

I'm not sure how I feel about this particular misconception of the world. I kind of want him to think a tiger is a bigger deal than a house cat and show appropriate amazement when he gets to see a tiger. But on the other hand, what a cool world he lives in -- one where a zebra could be around any corner and that meat in his stir-fry could easily be turtle.

(But let me be clear: Ew.)