Timothy the Naturalist 2005, 2007
Timothy’s personality and interests really emerged when he was two-years-old and we moved to Arizona. For one month we lived in corporate housing, which was a tiny apartment with a pool. Every day the kids and I would escape the narrow rooms and spend time at the pool. Daniel and Paige learned to swim there. Timothy played in the water, but didn’t spend much time there. He was more interested in the landscaping and the potted orange flowers. The older kids would stay in the pool and Timothy would get wet, climb out, and begin exploring in his orange life vest.
He fingered the leaves and petals, studying them. The pots of flowers were tall, so the blossoms were at his eye level. Little words came from his mouth as he tended one pot after another around the pool and drew his hands along the long leaves of the palm plants.
I nicknamed him, “My little naturalist.”
When he was four-years-old I took the kids on a field trip to a nature preserve in Sierra Vista where they could see desert animals. The curator/owner hosted an insect and reptile show which included a Gila monster, tarantulas, rattlesnakes, and other desert creatures. Timothy sat entranced, taking his turn with the tarantula and showing great interest in each animal. The finale of the little show was a 6-foot python, heavy and fat. The guide allowed older children to hold the python, saying that she couldn’t allow younger children to do it because it was so heavy.
Timothy knew he was smaller than the other children, but he remained hopeful that he could hold the snake. He stood behind Paige and Daniel in line. When the curator looked down into Timothy’s hopeful face which included two very blue eyes, some freckles, and round, flushed cheeks, she shrugged and smiled. She must have recognized a fellow naturalist, because she draped the python behind his neck. The snake’s tail curled beneath one of his arms and its head was poised near his shoulder. I don’t know how he could stand under the weight, but he did, cheeks sticking out with his wide smile. Later, the woman gave him a large poster of Gila Monsters and he insisted on putting it on his wall. Only a true naturalist would enjoy looking at a Gila Monster poster above his bed for 5 years.
