Jane's love for animals

Jane loves animals. She'll tell you that she loves dogs, cats, horses, and rabbits. She'll probably say it in a high sing-songy voice while pretending to hug and pet one. Whenever she sees an animal she asks if she can pet it. Very few times I have asked the owner for the opportunity but usually I just tell her we can't.

Jane also loves candy. If I had to guess I would've said that she loves candy more than animals but I would've been wrong. You see, at the end of June we went to a parade. Imagine how shocked I was when candy was raining down and Jane didn't run out to get it. Instead she sat right by some dogs and petted them to her hearts content. When it was time to leave the parade she said she had to say bye to the dogs. They were in the shade under a chair but she carefully maneuvered her way around so that she was able to pet each one goodbye. Later that same day we went to a petting zoo at the park. Needless to say she loved it. She sat by some rabbit cages and kept each hand on two different rabbits for as long as she could.




In July we went to Freedom Days in Provo. They had a reptile show. Before the show a worker sat outside the tent with a gigantic snake. I didn't know how Jane would feel about the snake, but lo and behold she loved it. She just had to pet it. So she petted it's long body for a good while. Then she saw his face and her eyes lit up. She cooed at it like it was a fuzzy teddy bear and just had to pet his head. The worker had to tell her a few times, "Not his face. Don't touch his face." until I finally got spooked enough that I went and grabbed her. No reason to let a 27 pound toddler upset a humongous snake.




But luckily Jane is easy to please. In fact the animals don't even have to be alive in order for Jane to be enamored with them. At Thanksgiving Point's Children's Gardens she spent about ten minutes petting the bronzed ducks. And after securing herself a stuffed turtle at a ward swap meet she has been gingerly carrying it around in the exact same position that she was taught to hold some kittens at the Sabin's neighbor's house: one hand under the front arms and one hand under its bum. She carried her turtle around like that for days asking us if we'd like to pet him. She is such a sweetie.