Giraffes can't dance!

Keerthana loves giraffes. From the time she was born I unwittingly picked a giraffe theme for her crib, bouncer, play mat, and everything else she used. Her favorite toy through her first year was Sophie the Giraffe . She would hold it in her car seat, while she was sleeping, pretty much everywhere that K went, the giraffe was sure to go. Now at the entrance of her daycare, there is a large giraffe stuffed toy and K starts and ends her day there with giving it  a big hug!

Now her favorite book is Giraffes Can't Dance, a heartwarming tale of Gerald the Giraffe. At the annual jungle dance where all the animals show off their  dancing skills, Gerald steps forward to try, but the animals laugh and say, "Giraffes can't dance, you silly fool!". Gerald walks away sad but gets inspired by the beauty of the moonlit jungle and does a freestyle dance that is the best that anyone had "ever, ever seen". All the animals then ask, "how did you learn to dance like that? Gerald, please tell us how?" Gerald says, "We all can dance if we find music that we love". The illustrations in this book are works of art (watercolor and ink) and together with its great rhyme scheme and message, this is pretty much the perfect book. At bedtime, a reading of this book usually ends with Keerthana saying, "Again?"

We often take her to the zoo, since we live within walking distance to a free zoo, an amazing perk of living in the city. K was so excited when she saw the giraffe! She jumped up and cried, "Giwaffe! Giwaffe!" and then sat in my lap near the glass and just gazed at the animals munching at the leaves. 

Her favorite animals in the zoo however, are the lion and the tiger. Saturday mornings Daddy just has to say, "Do you want to see...", and she completes the sentence with "the tiger?" She loves to watch these big cats and go "Roar, roar!" She loves the zoo and it's so much fun for us to take her there. It ends up being an almost weekly trip for us because of the proximity. but it always feels special.