Reptile Kyle.......

First Birthday.... Favorite present - large rubber Brontosaurus from uncle Eddie
Age 3.... Favorite movie: Jurassic Park
Age 4 ....Favorite books: Animal Encyclopedias he called his "Great big book of everything"
Age 5 ....favorite TV shows: Jeff Corwin Experience, Dinosapian, Meerkat manor, Documentaries on the Loch Ness Monster and CHAMP
Age 6 .... Favorite past time: Figuring out how to talk Mommy and Daddy into various lizard/Reptile pets:(
Age 6 1/2... All of those favorites are still his favorites.


"When I grow up, I am going to be the guy that goes in the cages at the ZOO!"

This is what Kyle told us a couple of years ago - I think it was after we left the Rosamond Giffard Zoo. - We discussed this more on the ride home, about how he could be anything he wants to be when he grows up - The Zoo would be a fun place to work -
we have our fingers crossed that he will want to go into the field of zoology - Not just settle for being the cage cleaner!


We have definitely nurtured Kyle's enthusiasm for Animals, nature, dinosaurs, Lizards, - you name it , if it is a creature, Kyle is an expert. Animal Impressions are a specialty. It is actually one of the coolest things about him. Some of my greatest "talks" with Kyle have been about "wild things". When he thinks he can teach me something about an animal, he gets very serious... starts talking with bigger hand gestures... comes up with interesting theories - surprises the hell out of me that he is only 6. Just last month, we watched a Jeff Corwin special on the National Geographic channel about the disappearance of the world's frog population. at the end of the show, jeff told us to go to www.savethefrogs.com to see what we could do to help the cause. Kyle pointed out to me that by becoming beekeepers, we were helping the bee population, So we should do what we can to help the frog population too. I am going to try and get him this T-shirt for his birthday coming up in 3 months. I hope this donation will be enough. I wouldn't want to take on repopulating the frogs at the pond in the barnyard.

So far,We have allowed various "dinosaurs" such as a Senegal Chameleon, and a red eared slider turtle, to co-habitate with our family at Kyle's request. In fact, we have all kind of stepped into Kyle's unique world of reptile interest to a point. I think we all had fallen in love with Camo the Chameleon, he was actually very cute. Not in a cuddly kind of pet way, but in a very cool pet for a very cool boy, kind of way. It was a very sad day when Camo passed on... The funeral was painful to watch. Then we got Lila - She is pretty easy going, seems to be a lot heartier than Camo. not as delicate. Kyle's new interest......I meant to say OBSESSION! - is trying to talk us into a Bearded Dragon. - He has spent all weekend surfing the net for these spiky dessert dwellers. He has been sent to his room a few times for the constant whining because Mommy says - " No - not right now - we cannot get a bearded dragon. No - Santa does not bring lizards for Christmas - it is too cold for them at the North Pole!"
BLAH BLAH BLAH - he doesn't want to hear any of that - So we had a long talk about how he should be thankful for Lila right now, and that I'm not saying he can NEVER have a bearded dragon... just not right now.... Maybe sometime in the Future.
KYLE: " oh - you mean, like, my BIRTHDAY????"

God help me!