"I've Been Watching You Dad, Ain't that Cool?!"

Nolan used to get angry at his Daddy for being a hunter, and would always tell him that "we don't kill deer, we're supposed to pet them!"

...until this year. This year he took on a fascination for the hobby (which I'm still not completely excited about, but completely realize and understand how necessary deer hunting is). This past hunting season, he had question after question for Brian about the topic. He even became so thrilled with the idea that he wanted his Daddy to shoot a big deer, and wanted us to put the WHOLE thing in his room...not just a head. First of all, we have ZERO 'taxadermafied' (pardon my created word) animals in our home, so where he came up with this wild idea is beyond me, as if I'd even allow such a thing in my home ever.

So, the other night, after playing in the biggest snowfall that we've had since he's been born, he very quietly told Brian to "be quiet because he's hunting deer." He found a gigantic icicle, imagined that to be his weapon of choice, and quickly found a spot against a tree to hunt his prey.

(Side Note About the Above Picture: I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of him putting this in his mouth, especially when I realized he was being permitted to walk around with it in his mouth, too. Both boys immediately received a quick lecture on the topic).

The night concluded with no deer for Nolan...and the hunting season ended with no deer for Daddy. But, they did enjoy sharing a hobby, and last night ended with an igloo.

PS: Nolan has learned the 10 Commandments at Preschool - although he refuses to share them with us when we ask because as he says, "I only remember them at my school." But, he will randomly say one here or there when no reference is being made to them. For example, a couple of weeks ago on the car ride to school, he called Brian "a murder," upon hearing such a disturbing thing come out of our 3-year-old's mouth we investigated the matter further. Clearly, Brian is a "murder" because he shoots and kills deer. Try explaining that one to a little one without going too overboard with the topic, but at the same time not scaring him away from eating meat for the rest of his life!