She’s Taking my Turtle!

It turns out my two year-old really likes turtles. The girls surprised me with a trip to the National Aquarium on Friday evening. When we went in the fall, the sharks and rays were the highlight. This time, it was all about turtles – to the extent that the girls almost came to blows over a turtle.

To properly set the scene, we need to get into the mindset of a two-year old. From my experience, they like to provide running commentary on everything they do and they are prone to overstating the obvious. Examples: “I’m putting shoes on, I’m wearing my shoes!” “I’m eating pancakes.”

So, there we are in the Aquarium calmly staring through the glass into a scene from Amazonia. There is a large turtle floating in front of my two-year old. Her response “That turtle is looking at me. He’s my turtle, he’s looking at me.” This commentary extends for a few minutes until said turtle begins to paddle toward my four year-old daughter. At this point, the little one begins shouting “She’s taking my turtle, she’s taking my turtle,” and begins pushing her older sister out of the way.

I’m not sure what kind of Crocodile Dundee animal control powers she thinks her sister has, but whatever. A few seconds later, the turtle turns around and we’re back to “He’s my turtle, he’s swimming in the water, he’s a turtle…”