Thursday, 19 August 2010
I took Owen to the Minnesota Zoo today.
After living within four miles of the zoo for about 14 years, including 4 years in which I lived within a mile, and several years as a member, let’s just say the zoo has lost some of the wonder and appeal it’s supposed to carry.
Nevertheless, here are a few random items I feel like mentioning:
*When we first entered the Tropics Trail, we stopped to observe the tortoise enclosure. Inside that enclosure, there are three life-sized wooden models of extinct animals, including one of an elephant bird, which was the largest bird to ever exist. Standing next to Owen and me was a father with two young children, around Owen’s age. “What’s that?” asked the little boy, pointing to the elephant bird.
“That’s a bird that some people used to think exist.”
“What’s that?” the boy asked, pointing to a foot-long model of an egg that shows the enormous size of the elephant bird’s egg.
“That’s the egg that some people think came from that bird.”
Nice job, dad.
Later, Owen and I went on the monorail, which is a great form of transportation for moving cash from a parent’s wallet into the zoo’s cash register. But later, as we were driving home, Owen asked if that was his first time riding on a train, and then I figured maybe it was worth the money.
Did you know the zoo has a trio of grizzly bears now? Yeah, super cool. We watched as one bear lumbered into the water, chased around a salmon (you can see under the water thanks to some thick plexiglass), catch the salmon, carry it onto the shore and then eat it. Made me hungry for salmon.
There’s also a butterfly enclosure now, too. That was especially enjoyable, as they give you a little plaque with all the species listed on it, along with accompanying pictures. This works out great, since Owen asked “What kind of butterfly is that?” about 20 times, and I was able to answer with the correct nomenclature. Hey – did you know some caterpillars lose their entire digestive tract (including mouth) during cocoon stage? So when they emerge as butterflies, the only energy they’ll ever have to live off of is what they ate back when they were caterpillars? Gives me a new appreciation for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There was a sign in the enclosure saying that most butterflies live only two to four weeks. I pointed out to Owen that all the butterflies he was seeing were all the same age as Isla. He gave me a slack-jawed look that indicated he either thought that was really nifty, or that he had no idea what I was talking about.
Later, Owen lost track of me at the tiger exhibit, and freaked out. He stared crying and said he wanted to go home, but I told him I was right there, I was just on the other side of a display. We went and watched the otters for a while (Owen got me to lost another dollar by insisting I donate to the save-the-otters program) and then he laughed when he saw them playing with ice chunks.
I explained to him that ice is what some people think happens to water when it freezes.
Friday, 20 August 2010
We took Isla to my place of employment today, so that she could see where her dad has to bust his ass everyday to pay for her crap.
Oops, sorry. Let’s try that one again, slightly less cynical:
Today the four of us ventured to my job to show my co-workers the latest in a series of JamesJennifer-spawn.
We had to check in at the front desk, because visitors need to obtain a pass to enter the building. In the few weeks I’ve been gone, they’ve gone computerized, so I had to use this little laptop to fill out my wife’s name and some other info. While I was doing that, the receptionist was busy fawning over Isla, then she turned to Owen, put her hand on his, and said: “Oh, you have a little sister now, don’t you?” He meekly said yes, and then she said, “And you know what? I have a coloring book for you.” She turned around and opened up a filing cabinet. As she did so, she said: “And it’s all pictures of princesses, too.”
Hm. Okay, I don’t like princesses – especially the Disney and British versions – but I was busy entering my wife’s reason for visiting (“Other”) and, besides, I didn’t want to sound gruff, so I just figured she was apologizing for not having anything else to give a little boy except a princess book.
Anyway, so she pulls out this wad of princess pictures, hands it to Owen and says, “’Cause you’re a princess, aren’t you?” Again, I was only half-listening, so in the moment, I just figured she was making a joke, but as my wife and I walked into the building, my wife said: “Why didn’t you stick up for our son?”
“What do you mean?” I said.
“She thought he was a girl.”
“Oh-“ I said, the reality of the situation suddenly dawning on me, and then I went on to explain what I just wrote, above. Then I think I ended with: “Why didn’t you stick up for our son?” I think my wife said: “Because you’re the head of the house.” Just kidding. Jennifer’s the head of the house. I abdicated that shitty job in June 1998.
Later, we were standing around with a bunch of my co-workers, showing off the kind of good-looking baby that we can create, and one of them looked at Owen and said: “Do you ever feed your baby sister?” Owen just looked at her with an extremely confused look, until Jennifer prompted him to say no.
Okay, I don’t mean to rip on or make fun of my co-worker, because it’s a perfectly understandable question from her viewpoint and from mine. But not from Owen’s. See, I’m pretty sure Owen is unaware that some babies are fed from bottles. He’s never had a bottle, and neither has his sister. So, I’m pretty sure Owen’s confusion stems from the fact that, when my co-worker posed the question, Owen was probably thinking: “Of course I’ve never fed my sister. I don’t have breasts of any kind, much less the lactating sort.”
Poor kid. First someone thinks he’s a princess, then someone inquires as to his ability to lactate.
Princesses. Yuck.
If a parent doesn’t believe something, I think the best thing is to say “some people believe”. At least it gives a child an option instead of forcing their child to believe what the parent believes.
People thought Mina was a boy last year. She was 11/12. She didn’t like girly clothes, but even when she would wear a fitted t-shirt and has noticeable breasts, people would call her he/him. Once I pulled her back, away from what was blocking her chest and said “She’s a girl.” At the very least, it will make that person think twice before assuming. But in a world where there is less female/male roles and obvious differences, I can’t really blame people for not knowing. For all they know, she could have been really overly politically correct and said “I am not a boy. I am human”. People with their sensitivities. Drives me insane. White people love to get offended, especially for other people.
Oh yeah. I also wanted to say that someone could watch water freeze. We can’t prove evolution or existence of extinct animals so easily. Reading scientific “evidence” doesn’t prove anything. Like global warming.
Rebekah, good point on the gender roles in today’s society. Owen, for example, has long hair and loves the pink. So, it’s not that I was offended that someone assumed he was the other gender, I just think it’s funny. At 5 yrs old, he obviously looks like a boy to me. Besides, he was wearing a t-shirt that said “Big Brother” on it, so I find it especially funny that the receptionist wasn’t just unsure about his gender, she was so sure that he was a girl that she gave him a princess coloring book and called him a princess.
And regarding the father at the zoo-
It’s true, it is a lot harder to prove things that we can’t visibly see happening. But I wonder if that dad says that about other things that we can’t visibly see. In another part of the zoo, there was cross-section of a volcano, and I wonder if, when the kid asked what that was, if the dad said: “Well, some people believe that there’s hot magma deep below the earth.”
Also, the diorama which included the elephant bird had little to nothing to do with evolution. It was showing how, wherever humans go, extinction follows. The elephant bird, for which we have complete skeletons and in-tact eggs, only went extinct about 1,000 years ago. That it once existed seems like a pretty well established fact to me. See here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_bird>
Additionally, even if the display WAS about evolution, I was unaware that people – even 6-day creationists – denied the existence of certain animals. The Creation Museum in Kentucky has full-scale models of dinosaurs, and JWs (if memory serves) never doubted the existence of dinosaurs, mammoths, and even the archeopteryx.
I absolutely hate those wooden animal cutouts. I always think of them as “coming soon” signs or “exhibit closed for repair – large bird, and sloth to return shortly.” It’s very tacky and their silly point could be made along a wall somewhere where people can rightly ignore it.
Also, I wonder if you’re selling Owen a bit short with regards to understanding what that lady was talking about. Unless you interviewed him later and found otherwise, I would think that between other families, books, tv, dolls, overheard conversations… he most likely has picked up on the notion of feeding babies with bottles. To be sure, I asked my own resident five-year-old if she ever fed her little sister (I had to add, “When she used to drink just milk,” because her sister is older than Isla and there were times when she helped feed her food.) and she very matter-of-factly answered, “No.” Without any prodding she added, “‘Cause mom never put her milk in a bottle.”
I know with my daughter, sometimes she’ll freeze up or act weird about a question when a stranger asks, but she’ll answer just fine if I re-ask it or ask it again later.
James,
According to the flood story in the My Book of Bible Stories they believe in mammoths. Maybe that dad should have said “I’ve never heard of this animal before but it says here (if there was a description of where it came from) that…” and left it at that. If he doesn’t believe it evolved, or something evolved from it then fine.
—
That receptionist doesn’t pay attention to detail. I’d think she would want to be sure about something like that. You know, like not asking a chubby woman is she is pregnant, because she may not be. That can really hurt feelings. Oh, and I completely with you on the princess thing. Except that I got to meet Anastasia and Drizella from the Cinderella movie when we went to the evil Disney World this summer. Although not princesses, I was super excited to meet them and get their autograph. Disney stole my heart…and my soul.
David-
You’re probably right about my son. Actually, I know you’re right, because a couple of days ago he was trying to explain to me the wonder of those fake bottles that are often packaged with baby dolls (you know, the ones that automatically ‘refill’ when you turn them upright).
Instead, I think his nervousness of being at a new place, coupled with being asked a question from someone he didn’t know combined with the fact that he probably doesn’t think of bottles right away when it comes to baby-feeding, all conspired to trip him up.
Funny that you dislike those wooden displays. You never know what’s gonna bug someone.
Rebekah-
Not only does the WT Society believe in mammoths, they even use mammoths are part of their body of evidence for the Flood (of course, they quote dishonestly): watchtowerletters.com/Cited_Article.html
And, yeah, I agree – the dad could’ve phrased things better. But I’m sure I say things wrong to my kid, too. I just try not to say them when I’m within earshot of other bloggers.
Other bloggers. Ha!