A Snake, You Say!

So I love to wax on about how much Tessa is like her father. And for the most part it's true. But yesterday showed two colors there. She spends much of her day outside in our back yard getting into trouble. Mostly, she ends up with dirt EVERYWHERE and a few scrapes and bruises. But yesterday, she also ended up with a snake. I don't know how she caught it, but she did. And she brought it into the house to show me no less. I am not the least bit frightened by snakes, but I would not like one slithering around loose in my house. She desperately wanted to show her daddy, so we agreed to put the snake in a Mason jar (how fitting) and keep it there until he got home from work.

While waiting, I asked her what the snake's name was. She hesitated and thought about it awhile. I suggested "Sammy" and she nodded and whispered, "He's my best friend."

Then she proceeded to take her "best friend" and shake him near to death in his jar. I had to put him out of reach before he turned belly up. My mom mentioned the likeness of Tessa's actions to this little girl from Finding Nemo:

When I mentioned how fast she must have been to catch a snake, she told me that only little girls can catch snakes. Oh.

So that evening, after daddy got home, we went into the back yard to let poor Sammy go. Tessa spent some time looking at him:

And then she held him for awhile:

After he slithered away under the fence, she had a moment of separation anxiety, but it was short lived and forgotten at the mention of Popsicles. See! She is SO my daughter!