"Cinnamous Piwates"

When I picked up B from Zoo School today, I could tell by his face he was about to erupt with news. “Momma, I saw a big snake and then we went to see ‘piwates’.” (An anaconda had visited their classroom today and the second word is pirates.) I didn’t quite get the ‘piwate’ part but I pressed on with the anaconda which was exactly what Mr. Michael had said when I picked Brighton up. He went on to tell me that it was “big and scary” and “cinnamous”. ??? Julia translated for me, as she has been all his talking life, “Mommy, I think what he is saying is venomous.” Emphatic shakes from his big blonde head and wide eyes were confirming she was right, so we practiced saying ‘venomous’ a few times. He mentioned the ‘piwates’ a couple of more times, but I wasn’t sure where they fit in to zoo school. Anyway, we parked the car to get out because today was “Home School Day at the Zoo” complete with an educational presentation after lunch. As soon as he heard we were headed into the zoo he started asking if we could we ride the train. ( I think it must torture him every week at school when they walk through the zoo and he can’t ride the train.) I met up with a sweet friend to eat our lunches and to go to the presentation. After that 20 minute deal, Brighton was begging to ride the train. I said we would, so on our way we were passing the reptile building that has all these glass cases with amazing live reptiles. All of the sudden, Brighton piped up and said he wanted to show me the ‘piwates’. This I had to see. He got all of the little girls’ attention that were with us and said we were going in here because he had something to show us. I was proud—my almost 4 year old leading us all in, holding the door for all the girls and ladies, wanting to show us something he learned at school today. Like a tour guide, he marches us straight to a certain case, hops up on the bench so he can reach and points carefully to a red sticker of a skull and cross bones (to indicate “poisonous”) and then scoots over to the next case and points to the same sticker. He looks at all of us with a serious face of warning and says, “Piwates! They can kill you. They are ‘cinnamous’!”