Sharks on the Brain

Alex and his hammerhead shark chicken dinner. The chicken looked like a shark and I got creative. He was the happiest kid that night.

When I was growing up, I was obsessed with Star Wars. At least, I thought I was obsessed. The truth I can now see is that I knew not what obsession truly was...until now. When little boys grow up, it's pretty common to hear them get excited about certain things. Trucks and tractors and dinosaurs are generally the two big boy-loves you hear about. Sometimes a few sports get thrown in there as well. Alex has had his fair share of loves. Trucks and tractors were a phase. Then he moved on to The Wiggles. That lasted the longest and he still holds a special place in his heart for the Aussie Fab Four. When he wore that yellow, long-sleeved Wiggles shirt every single day from age 2 - 5, I thought we'd known obsession. But once again, not so much. In between we've had the football-love and The Avengers-love as well. Buy oh my! Alex. That kid! My goodness, has he got it bad!

About a year and a half ago, Alex began getting interested in all things Ocean. Because of his new found interest, Josh and I thought we'd feed that by finding the closest aquarium and taking the kiddos to that. We found one in Oklahoma and once Alex saw that they had a shark tunnel, he was pumped to go. We went last summer around this time and he had a blast. That was just the beginning of his ocean love. Fast forward to today...

He never stops talking about all things ocean. Especially sharks. Never. Stops. Talking. About. Sharks....NEVER. When I ask him to think about something else for a few minutes, he says, "I can't! I can't get sharks out of my brain, mom!" When we go for walks, he will literally talk my ear off about all things ocean and sharks for the entire trip. He owns about ten shark books right now and is begging for more. And the kid reads them...by himself...every day. He Googles. Yes. Googles. He finds the name of some random sea creature and types it in to Google so he can find pictures about them. He wants to be a Marine Biologist and go scuba diving with sharks as soon as he can learn how. I seriously can't explain the level of obsessed this kid is. You just have to hear it to believe it.

This summer we are going to go back to the Oklahoma Aquarium. This time, I can guarantee that he will know every single name to every single creature in that place and will be able to tell you at least one fact about each one. He's asked if we can go to the New York Aquarium and about six other ones he's read about. He can spot a pea-sized picture of a shark in any book he finds within moments and will beg to cut the image out so he can keep it or buy the book if that won't work. We spend hours checking out and reading the shark books he's found at our local library. A year ago, I wouldn't have known one shark from another. They were all great whites in my brain. Today, I can name and identify at least 30 of the 400 species of sharks in the world and tell you a little about them. I know terms like "midnight zone" and "denticles" and can tell you  just which shark is the "garbage can of the ocean."

Sometimes, Josh and I just look at one another and start laughing when Alex gets his shark and ocean lectures on. It can start to drive us a bit batty at times, but who knows? Perhaps he'll be the next Jacques Cousteau. Here's my big question though. How is it possible that things like Scooby Doo and Sponge-Bob give this kid nightmares, but the most frightening creature on Earth doesn't even faze him? And if you're wondering whatever happened to Alex wanting to be a Chiropractor? Don't worry. He says he wants to be a Chiropractic Marine Biologist that scuba-dives with sharks. When I asked him if he would fix the sharks backs he pointed out to me that sharks don't have bones. They have cartilage. It made me laugh.