What I did last summer…

September 01, 2009

(An excerpt from Dave’s narrative Sherman, is that You? to be used in class)

“Come on, Daniel Julian. Let’s go see Sherman the Turtle,” I told my two-year-old son.
We were at Kidspace spending another wonderful day together. It was our new summer routine. My wife Dana working and D.J. and I hanging out together.
As we arrived, Sherman, the tiny turtle pet, was climbing around on the grass looking for bugs to snack on. Immediately Daniel Julian froze like a statue, eyes glued on Sherman. He looked on in awe. D.J. didn’t talk or move. He just stared, watching every movement Sherman made.
Later we left and on the ride home Daniel Julian dozed off. As I drove on I thought about Daniel Julian’s reaction and wondered if he would remember the turtle later.
After we got home I put D.J. into his bed, and during his nap I spent a wonderful hour or so catching up on my reading of some of the amazing books that are out there for our class to read. It was an awesome part of my day that I tried never to miss! I was broken from my reading zone by Daniel Julian calling me, only he was shouting something I couldn’t quite make out.
“Sherman wants to get up! Sherman is hungry!” I heard as I got closer and closer to Daniel Julian’s door. “Sherman want bugs.”
For the rest of that day and into the next day I hung out with “Sherman” as I now had my very own two-year-old “turtle.” My question of whether or not he would remember the moment at Kidspace was answered with a resounding YES!
However, this was just the beginning of our adventures with Daniel Julian this summer. At various times D.J. spent time being a giraffe from the LA Zoo, the man who drives our trash truck, the ACTUAL trash truck, Ponyo the fish, a friend’s child, a sea lion, and our dog Dexter (which Dexter thought was very cool!). Yes, It was quite a summer for Mr. Cullen.