Clara and the Bunny

Clara loves bunnies. All the bunnies in her life have been the cuddly stuffed animal, a character in a children's book or just a cute picture. She loved pointing her tiny index finger at a bunny and loudly exclaiming "bunny". 

The family was sitting around in the backyard on a warm August evening this week enjoying some time with our grandchildren when I saw a rabbit in the back of our neighbors yard eating some grass. I picked Clara up in my arms and walked toward the rabbit.

We have many rabbits in our backyard and generally they are not afraid of us. There have been times when I've seen five or six back there at the same time. One in particular often comes within a couple of feet of my chair when I am in the backyard reading a book. 

So I walked toward the rabbit with Clara in my arms and said to her "lets go see the bunny". She was immediately ready and since there was no fence between the yards it was easy to get close to the munching rabbit.

Clara was watching very intently and whispered "bunny". The rabbit just sat there very still without moving a muscle as we slowly approached. I was wondering what was going through Clara's mind as we watched the rabbit quietly looking at us. Then it blinked, it's ears moved and the nose twitched. Then there was absolutely no doubt for Clara that the bunny was real. Suddenly I could feel her trembling in my arms as she got physically excited. Then the rabbit took a few steps forward and Clara loudly exclaimed "bunny rabbit". This was no longer just another bunny like a toy or a picture in a book. This was real and she knew it. She started shouting "down down down" and I let her down to the ground.

She slowly walked quietly toward the rabbit who quickly ran a few feet away from her. Then Clara laughed out loud while running to the rabbit and the chase was on. I scooped her up because I really didn't want her running around the neighbors yard. She didn't seem to care and was just so excited to see that rabbit scampering around on the grass.

I carried her back over to the family sitting in chairs around the table where she happily told everyone she saw a bunny rabbit. When asked where the bunny was she would point her finger over to the back of the neighbors yard to the spot where the rabbit had been eating grass.

For the rest of the week she constantly looked in the yard for that bunny rabbit... and the kitty cat and the hippo but those are other stories.