Rilian and His Tongue

If any of you have ever been to the Abilene Zoo, you have seen and fed the giraffes. A bridge has been built above them so you can go above them and feed them. The bridge is at a height just above their heads. They stick out their long tongues and sweep the bridge to get the crackers that you can feed them with.

My kids LOVE to feed the Abilene giraffes, as I'm sure most kids do! They think it is so funny when the giraffe's tongue touches their hand with the cracker. They just squeal and crack up laughing! This picture is about 3 years old, but here is Piper and Jeremy feeding the giraffes. It was the best picture I had of one of them feeding the giraffes and the giraffe's tongue sweeping the bridge for the cracker. I guess we need to head back to the zoo with our camera!

Every parent knows how fun it is to teach their kid what the different animals say. Well, neither I nor Jeremy are sure what sound a giraffe makes, but Rilian really likes giraffes. So when we ask him what a giraffe does, he sticks his tongue out and moves it back and forth.       

I have started noticing more and more Rilian playing with his tongue...

We happened to be at Jeremy's parent's house on Rilian's birthday. It was one of the four snow days in a row that we had. Since Granny just happened to have a cake, she stuck two candles in it and we had a little celebration before his "real" birthday party on Saturday. He got a present from Granny and Dadabe. It was a Toy Story book that had different buttons to push as you read the story. You know the kind that make it more dramatic with sound? Rilian found a button that made a song that he really liked and kept pushing it. I noticed he was sticking his tongue out as he danced to it. 

He reminds me so much of the giraffes at the Abilene Zoo sometimes with his tongue. He was putting snow on the sliding glass door and then licking it off, but I think he got a little carried away and kind of forgot about the snow...

Here's a closer view at his cuteness, or grossness...however you want to view it. Seven tries too, but he just isn't as good.

I can speak from experience that Rilian's birthday cupcakes were really good! Jeremy did a wonderful job as usual. Either Rilian really liked them too, or he was just trying to keep his face clean...