Team Beautiful's science studies begin this year with the life sciences, more specifically zoology. I thought introducing the girls to the Animal Planet show Meerkat Manor would be a great way to take a closer look at one of the girls' favorite zoo animals.
The girls became engrossed in the Whisker Family's everyday life, and we quickly moved through seasons 1 and 2 (which involved roughly 15+/- pregnancies by the matriarch Flower). Season 3 has been a much darker season, fraught with death.
This has led to not only studying the Meerkat pups' behavior but also 2 little Team Beautiful pups' behavior. (I would announce "spoiler alert" but we are about a year behind, Season 4 is currently showing on cable). In the latest episode, Flower bravely fought a poisonous snake and was killed. These are both girls' responses to the death of the lead meerkat:
Kelly-(no real words, just weeping and other sad sounds).
Tatum- "Oh, I wonder who will be the dominant female now?"
For additional information, you may find Flower's obituary at http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/meerkat/flower/obituary.html.
For a great article re: people's responses to the death of the "Kalahari Desert Rose", see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/arts/television/10bell.html.
PS: If you see us out and about and Tatum is rubbing her chin on an object, have no fear. It is not another stimming behavior-she just thinks it's funny to "scent mark" things like a meerkat now (Thank goodness she's chosen the more milder form of meerkat scent marking).
1 comment:
Hi,Team Beautiful!
Grandma and Grandpa Liston wanted to write and tell you how sorry we are that Flower died. Grandma has watched many of the episodes and really enjoyed them. I felt sad when Flower's son died, too.
It's really interesting to watch how they live together--sometimes getting along and sometimes not so much! Just like people, huh?
It sounds as if you're doing well with Mom as a teacher! You'll be doing all types of interesting and fun work as you learn.
We are looking forward to your visit with us in a couple of weeks! We'll plan on enjoying the Johnny Appleseed Festival together. Who knows? You might even see President Abe Lincoln or Johnny Appleseed himself.
Is there anything special you'd like us to fix you to eat? Hungry for anything? Is there anything you'd like to do?
Have a good week. We hope to talk with you soon.
We love you and miss you so much!
Grandma and Grandpa
XXXOOO
PS Max sends his love to Tally. He hopes she can come, too. Bow-Wow!
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