You say tomato.

My parents live on what used to be farmland; you can tell because the woods are bisected by old stone walls. These stone walls provide a habitat for a variety of wildlife, including snakes. We’ve seen many a gardener snake over the years, although I generally try to avoid them as much as possible. I wasn’t surprised, then, when my dad caught one yesterday. He put it in a jar for Juliette to see. Mom was nervous that it would slither out of the glass jar; I tried to contain myself but after a few minutes I had to agree with her. Juliette, on the other hand, was fascinated- especially after I said that I didn’t like it. She’s at the age now where if I say or do one thing, she wants to do the opposite. For example, my dad took her for a walk to get the mail the other day, after it had rained. Soggy wet worms were curled up all over the driveway, and each time she saw one Juliette exclaimed “I don’t like it!” However, later, she and I were getting in the car and I almost stepped on one of the soggy worms, so I said “Yucky! I don’t like worms!” Juliette’s reply? “I like worms, mommy!”

Or, take for another example, the time we saw a really loud motorcycle drive by us on the road. Juliette tells me “I want to see it again!”

“Then you have to keep your eyes open,” I reply.

Juliette’s response? “No, mommy, I close them.” And she does.

When we are reading books, if I ask her to point out the square, she will point instead to the triangle. Or if I ask her what color the square is, she will say “orange” when it is, in fact, purple. She knows a square is a square, and she knows orange is orange. Clearly, she is being contrary just on principle. Sadly, I am beginning to take advantage of this, but unfortunately it doesn’t work when I want it to. If I comment that broccoli is yucky, for example, she will agree. If I say, “I don’t want to wash my face”, then Juliette decides not to wash her face, either. I am being outsmarted by a two year old!

Anyway, Juliette watched the snake in the jar for a few minutes, fascinated but at the same time a little bit scared- just like her mommy, even though she would never admit that. It was a rich brown color; and I realized that it was not a gardener snake. So I asked my dad what it was. “Oh,” he replied, “it’s a copperhead.”

!!!!

A copperhead is poisonous, is it not? “Not really,” dad assures me. “A full grown copperhead probably couldn't hurt a cat, and this one is a baby.” My protective mother instinct kicks in; I protest- my Juliette is a baby. And my Cosette is a baby. And it might not kill them, but it certainly wouldn’t feel very good.

The copperhead stayed in the jar, and the jar went outside until Dad could release the snake- somewhere distant from the house, I hope. But meanwhile, sensing my revulsion, Juliette announces: “I like snakes, mommy!”

My mom assures me that this behavior is quite normal, and that I should get used to it, since she knows from experience that it will last- well- forever. My indignant reply? “No it won’t!”