These pictures were taken the other night. Right after I took these pictures DJ and Maya read a few books which is a part of our bedtime routine. I was in the kitchen cleaning up and looking for something to make for dinner. I could over hear DJ reading Maya's typical favorites, Singing with Elmo, Elmo at the Zoo, Hungry Caterpillar, etc. Then I heard him reading her a new book. From what I could hear he was reading a book about Polar Bears. Then I hear him veer off from what I can tell is the story and say to his 14 month old daughter in a sweet fatherly voice "Daddy wants to kill a Polar Bear some day" and then goes on reading. He finished the book and we put her to bed. After we came out of her room I looked at him and said "Not only do you want to kill a Polar Bear but you decided to add that to your daughters story?" We both started laughing. He hadn't even known that I was listening and I guess being the Eskimo that he is, it was totally natural to him to share this information with Maya. We both agreed that even though she couldn't even understand what he was saying that next time we read her this book he'll leave that part out! I promise I don't think the idea of killing any animal is funny, its just that him and I come from such different backgrounds and it becomes very apparent with situations like this. His family used to hunt seal up in Alaska and lived in a village right outside of Nome, Alaska and is a part of the Sitnasuak Tribe. If you follow the link about their tribe one of the values is "Love of Children". That is most definitely accurate. I sat down with DJ's grandfather a few weeks back and he gave the a lot of information regarding the history of their family. It was so interesting. I will have to get some of the pictures from him and do a post of Maya's Eskimo Heritage.
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