Sea turtles and parenting

My Laura girl had another essay due. It’s so odd that she’d finish it today, when I’m putting the polishing touches on my presentation about parenting and breastfeeding. All about the differences between our lives and sea turtles. I’ve chosen to interpret this essay as a tribute to my fine parenting. But I had a moment of just real amazement when I was helping Laura look it over one more time and she mentioned how newborn babies eat soft food during their first year. I asked Laura, “honey, else do new babies eat?” “Smushed up grapes? crackers?” She offered up a couple of other suggestions before I asked if she didn’t remember how I fed Will? “Mom,” she groans at me, “that was two years ago.” Finally she remembered milk—but still didn’t mention nursing. We revised that sentence—I wonder if she’s already forgotten it? I had to finish my work and so did she, so I didn’t pursue it then, but I have it on my list of things to do.

Sea Turtles’ Lives Compared to Mine

Sea turtles and humans are not all the same. Sea turtles {babies} use caruncle {temporary egg tooth} to help open the shell. Humans don’t have teeth when they’re born. Sea turtles are born in eggs. Humans are not. Sea turtles don’t take care of their kids. My parents do take care of me! Baby sea turtles use the moon to get to the sea. We use nothing. We don’t even go to sea when we’re born. We can’t even walk yet!

There are different ways that humans and sea turtles are born. Sea turtles hatch all throughout the year, but mostly in the summer. And we are just born regularly all throughout the year. I was born in the winter. My brother was born in the spring. It takes longer for humans to be born to be born than sea turtles. For instance it takes us about 279 days to be born. It takes sea turtles 45 to 70 days!

Humans and sea turtles do different things during the first year of their lives. During the first year, sea turtles are rarely seen. This is called “Lost Year.” Humans however are free to be seen all year round. In the first year, sea turtles are without parents {and they always will be} and are eating plants. We are with parents and are eating soft food and drinking milk.

After the sea turtle’s first year they will return to the same beach where they were born, to lay their own eggs in a few months. We however stick with our parents until we’re about 18 then we go into the world and have our own babies live if you’re females, and we keep them with us. I would rather be a human because if I were a sea turtle, I wouldn’t have my mother!