Pet Store Trauma

As a mom, you learn to find adventurous places indoors to take the kids without having to spend a lot of funds. A couple of our favorites include: The Artic Playplace near our house, local Library, and of course: the pet store.

A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys to the local Petsmart. We looked over the all the kitties, hamsters, birds, and fishys before I decided to take them over to the reptiles.

Collier has a HUGE phobia of snakes (Even as a baby, when he learned to walk he would keep CLEAR of the garden hose, convinced there was a connection somehow).. We are working on his fears and a couple of months ago bought a little green plastic snake. It took FOREVER to convince him to even touch it - but now "texas" (which is what he named her) has a place near his bed. Apparently all snakes are girls...

Anyway, back to the pet store.. when Collier noticed we were walking towards the snake case -- he quickly backed up a few feet. It wasn't until he saw the cage was completely closed that he got a little braver and came closer. Being the terrible mother that I am, I told him in all serious that we were going to BUY the snake. (Honestly, what parent has not had a moment of teasing insanity?) Collier's face went white when he realized we were taking the snake HOME and he PLEADED with me NOT to. Still being the jerk that I am, I pointed to another (Smaller) snake and asked if we should just get a little one. ... At this point, ANYTHING sounded better to him than the python and he grudgingly decided to let me get the small snake. Devilishly, I decided to give him one more option.... I walked over to the Tarantula cage - pointed to the spider and said, "Well... if you don't want the snake .. how about this spider?"... At this point he was truly believing me and got even more scared. He pulled me down and in all seriousness said, "Mom, can't we just get an elephant?"

I couldn't look at him and show my giggles.. it was hilarious! He KNEW it was a good idea, and when I tried to tell him that we just didn't have room for a HUGE elephant - he said,"Well, we can just get a LITTLE ONE like Sophia... (sophia is our Weiner dog) I finally came clean and told him we wouldn't get any spiders or snakes but if we DID find a little elephant like Sophia - maybe we could bring it home.