susiej/reviews

One rare day, both of my boys (when I only had two) headed down to the basement playroom to actually play. Even more shocking, it was dinner time, the witching hour, and I was free to cook.

While I relished in this kid-free moment, when I was actually free to boil the water for the pasta without stepping over puzzle pieces scattered all over the floor in the kitchen, my youngest son, 2 1/2, declared that there was a squirrel in the basement.

“Ha,” I thought. What an imagination that boy has. We had large basement windows with deep window wells, and the house sat in a woods; so I assumed he meant he saw a squirrel in the window well… on the outside of the house. Now, don’t laugh — it could have happened; just a week before the boys did see a frog staring at them from the outside through the very same window. It could happen again, I thought. This time, with a squirrel.

I kept stirring and chopping, while he talked about the colors on the squirrel, what he should name the squirrel, and what he would like to eat.

Then, my son asked suspiciously, “Mom, is this squirrel gonna’ bite me?” At that, I quickly laid down my spoon, and ventured down into the basement steps to see my beautiful son sitting on the rug in the basement, face to face with a squirel. Inside, not outside, as I assumed.

I stood speechless, unable to think what to do. I calmly asked both boys to come upstairs to play with me while I cooked, while dialing Dad on the phone, asking “There’s a squirrel in the basement, and what do I do now?”

While I paced around and gabbed on the phone about options, my four-year-old simply grabbed a broom from the closet, and crept back down stairs and started chasing the squirrel with the broom. Stunned, I stopped talking and simply stared at him. Soon, my son had the squirrel cornered, and the squirrel scampered up the steps, where my two year old opened the door, and away the squirrel ran.

Not only do I live in a zoo, but my kids are the zoo keepers.

This story was inspired by the Parent Bloggers Network and Generation Next, announcing their brand-new product – iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds. Created in partnership with the world-famous San Diego Zoo (where you’ll find Generation Next highlighted on the San Diego Zoo website as a featured partner!), this collection of media uses eye-popping graphics, beautiful music, and engaging video to not only help teach children to read, but actively involve them in helping the animals and the planet.

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