I don't believe I've posted exclusively about Evangeline lately....

[conuly]

Let's see....

Yesterday we went to the zoo, and she enjoyed the polar bear... right up until it swam VERY close up against the wall of the enclosure. Well, Ana had just asked if polar bears eat people, and I'd just replied with my standard line of "most animals think people taste yucky, but we always are careful around wild animals, especially ones larger than us, because they CAN hurt us", and Evangeline totally freaked out.

But, to give her her credit, she was very calm about her freaking out, thus enabling me to drag Ana away from the bear. And as I told the two of them, it's perfectly sensible to be cautious or scared of bears!

Today, Evangeline misplaced her superduck towel. "MAH SUPADUCK IS MISSING! WHERE IS IT?" Silly me, I thought to ask her "Well, where did you have it last?" The answer? "ON MAH HEAD, CONNIE!"

Indeed.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Oh the cuteness.... *smiles*.

[conuly]

Well, her sheer terror wasn't that cute, but it was sensible and intelligent, so I can't fault it.

The superduck comment? Brilliant. She made it with her weird grimace she makes when she's a little annoyed at people being silly.

Earlier in the day, I was singing "Had a cat, cat pleased me" to her, but I switched the words. "Had a nose, nose pleased me, fed my nose by yonder tree. Nose goes sniff, sniff..." and when I got up to "Braid goes pull, pull, eyes go blink, blink, tongue goes lick, lick, nose goes sniff, sniff" she all of a sudden realized what was going on, made the face, and...

"CONNIE! Dat is siyee. Dat song not posed to be siyee, Connie!"

[l33tminion]

Of all the wild animals to be afraid of, polar bears are a very good choice. They're strong, fast, not at all averse to eating human-size mammals (although humans aren't their favored prey, they'll certainly do in a pinch), and contrary to your statement would probably find any one of us delicious.

[conuly]

Really?

Well, the odds of her being eaten by a polar bear are slim, anyway.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, polar bears will hunt humans on purpose sometimes. It might even be that Evangeline freaked out because the citter was genuinely checking her out in a "my my, wouldn't you'd be tasty" kind of way.

A thing that occurred to me a couple days ago: there's probably a hundred movies that have a big scary beastie smashing its way out of the supposedly-unbreakable cage or whatever that it's in. It's very rare in real life for zoo animals to escape, but it's a classic plot-element of fiction.

So perhaps it might help to explain to her that there's no way the bear can get through the glass, and maybe also that the bear doesn't want to eat her because he gets all he needs of food that he likes much better.

[conuly]

Honestly, I don't think the bear saw her. The glass shows mostly the water that the bear swims in, his head is all the way at the top (unless, of course, he dives - but he didn't). In order to see her, he'd have to have his eyes pointed somewhere in our direction - we couldn't even see his head after he moved to hang out by the window.

A thing that occurred to me a couple days ago: there's probably a hundred movies that have a big scary beastie smashing its way out of the supposedly-unbreakable cage or whatever that it's in. It's very rare in real life for zoo animals to escape, but it's a classic plot-element of fiction.

Probably because the part of us that gets scared is a lot smarter in some ways than our rational minds. Sure, bears behind glass are safe - but normally, one avoids bears like all fuck. At least, if you want to live, that is.

So perhaps it might help to explain to her that there's no way the bear can get through the glass, and maybe also that the bear doesn't want to eat her because he gets all he needs of food that he likes much better.

Or it might help to just not pay the $11 admission for a while and hang out somewhere other than the zoo until she largely forgets about it. By and large, I'd rather she is afraid of bears than that she's *not*, y'know? Not that bears are a huge risk in NYC, but just in case...!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Oh the cuteness.... *smiles*.

[conuly]

Well, her sheer terror wasn't that cute, but it was sensible and intelligent, so I can't fault it.

The superduck comment? Brilliant. She made it with her weird grimace she makes when she's a little annoyed at people being silly.

Earlier in the day, I was singing "Had a cat, cat pleased me" to her, but I switched the words. "Had a nose, nose pleased me, fed my nose by yonder tree. Nose goes sniff, sniff..." and when I got up to "Braid goes pull, pull, eyes go blink, blink, tongue goes lick, lick, nose goes sniff, sniff" she all of a sudden realized what was going on, made the face, and...

"CONNIE! Dat is siyee. Dat song not posed to be siyee, Connie!"

[l33tminion]

Of all the wild animals to be afraid of, polar bears are a very good choice. They're strong, fast, not at all averse to eating human-size mammals (although humans aren't their favored prey, they'll certainly do in a pinch), and contrary to your statement would probably find any one of us delicious.

[conuly]

Really?

Well, the odds of her being eaten by a polar bear are slim, anyway.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, polar bears will hunt humans on purpose sometimes. It might even be that Evangeline freaked out because the citter was genuinely checking her out in a "my my, wouldn't you'd be tasty" kind of way.

A thing that occurred to me a couple days ago: there's probably a hundred movies that have a big scary beastie smashing its way out of the supposedly-unbreakable cage or whatever that it's in. It's very rare in real life for zoo animals to escape, but it's a classic plot-element of fiction.

So perhaps it might help to explain to her that there's no way the bear can get through the glass, and maybe also that the bear doesn't want to eat her because he gets all he needs of food that he likes much better.

[conuly]

Honestly, I don't think the bear saw her. The glass shows mostly the water that the bear swims in, his head is all the way at the top (unless, of course, he dives - but he didn't). In order to see her, he'd have to have his eyes pointed somewhere in our direction - we couldn't even see his head after he moved to hang out by the window.

A thing that occurred to me a couple days ago: there's probably a hundred movies that have a big scary beastie smashing its way out of the supposedly-unbreakable cage or whatever that it's in. It's very rare in real life for zoo animals to escape, but it's a classic plot-element of fiction.

Probably because the part of us that gets scared is a lot smarter in some ways than our rational minds. Sure, bears behind glass are safe - but normally, one avoids bears like all fuck. At least, if you want to live, that is.

So perhaps it might help to explain to her that there's no way the bear can get through the glass, and maybe also that the bear doesn't want to eat her because he gets all he needs of food that he likes much better.

Or it might help to just not pay the $11 admission for a while and hang out somewhere other than the zoo until she largely forgets about it. By and large, I'd rather she is afraid of bears than that she's *not*, y'know? Not that bears are a huge risk in NYC, but just in case...!