Out and About

Yesterday was so gorgeous that we just couldn't waste it at home. It took us a while to get everyone showered and dressed and get all the drinks, snacks and diapers together, but in the afternoon we took the girls to the zoo. It was so great to be able to walk around in shirtsleeves in the 75 degree weather after all the rain and chill we've had this winter! The lions looked pretty happy, too.

We had only brought snacks to eat in the car, nothing that really constituted lunch, so we had to get lunch at the zoo. MISTAKE. Slipshod waited in line for a good hour for tuna on white bread. Yuck. But it was food, and we ate it. While he waited and ordered and waited some more, I took the girls for a walk around part of the zoo. We got to see the tigers up pretty close and Sweet Pea, with her love of all things catlike, was enthralled. Interestingly, she seemed even more enthralled by the yellow anaconda, but I think the real draw there was the cavelike place they had the anaconda cage. We also saw some LOUD macaws and some monkeys swinging from branch to branch.

When she saw the over-the-park sky chair things Sweet Pea wanted to go for a ride. I told her she would have to wait for Daddy and eat lunch first. Once we did those things, she dragged Slipshod right to the ride and they waited in line. As The Bug and I waited, me pushing her majesty in her fabulous rolling chair for her first ride in the "big" part (i.e., not in her infant seat, but actually sitting up in the stroller), I remembered with horror how very scared of heights Sweet Pea is. I don't know why - but she has quite the fear of heights. I found Slipshod and Sweet Pea in line and asked Slipshod if Sweet Pea knew what the ride was. He said that he had been explaining it to her the whole time they were in line, and continued to do so until they got on the chair. I was sure I would her an earsplitting shriek of terror when their chair went up a little bit past the platform, but she was totally fine on the whole ride up and back. Whew! She and her daddy had a great time riding over the park, seeing the lions, tigers, wildebeests, camels, giraffes, etc. from above.

I'm glad they got to see the animals that way, because by the time they got off the chairs it was closing time and although we were not shooed out of the zoo, all the animals were being fed behind the fences, and being "put away" for the night. I hope we can go back again soon and get there earlier in the day so we can see more.

As for The Bug - she napped just a little bit in the car before we got there. I carried her in the Bjorn for part of the zoo trip, but we both got hot and she seemed to want to see a bit more, so once Sweet Pea was out of the stroller I put The Bug in. At first she was like, "um, Mom, are you going to leave me here? This is a little weird." Then she figured out that the seat belt was neat to chew on (she's so little that she could pull up the huge bit of slack hanging outside the buckle and chew on that), and she enjoyed looking at everything as I strolled her around. She didn't make a sound the whole time we walked around, except to hum/coo happily when she saw a lot of birds flying and landing on the wires above our heads at one point.

Of course, the not sleeping made for a 3-hour bedtime last night (she fell asleep very quickly but woke up less than an hour later, then couldn't get back to sleep), but I don't think she woke up too much during the night. Two times, maybe three, I think. I lose track nowadays because I just bring her in bed with the rest of us and fall asleep nursing her so I can get some rest too.

Today the weather is not quite as glorious but it is still bright, if not exactly sunny. Not exactly overcast, either - hard to describe. Grandma and Boopa are visiting and The Bug is FINALLY napping. She cries and wakes up when I put her on her back and the swing is losing its magic over her, so I decided to try putting her on her tummy to sleep. It worked, and she has now been asleep for a whole half hour - so exciting! I hope she takes a good nap. For once.

She is really getting all over the place on the floor. Still not truly crawling, but definitely making progress in that direction. Getting Sweet Pea to keep paper, crayons, and too-small-for-baby toys off the floor is a daily struggle, but I imagine that's par for the course with two kids. I am amused at the way The Bug tries to launch herself out of our arms and take head dives when she sees something she's interested in. I can't tell if she's more gregarious about that than Sweet Pea was, or if I just can't remember this stage very well with Sweet Pea.