The Zoo through the Eyes of a 3 year old

Yesterday, we took Andrew to the San Antonio Zoo for his 3rd birthday. I love the zoo and I was so excited. San Antonio is about 1 and 1/2 hours from our house and the zoo opens at 9:00 so we left at 7:00 am. Bright and happy we set off for the zoo, singing "We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo" by Raffi and talking about the animals we would see. Then we got stuck in traffic and missed the exit and it ended up taking us 2 and 1/2 hours to get there. Did I mention Andrew whined for the last hour of the drive about how he wanted out of his seat or he wanted to go back home? Forget waterboarding, if you want a confession from someone just lock them in a small space with a whiny 3-year old for an hour. I would have admitted to any number of sins just to get out of that car.

So we finally get to the zoo, hop out of the car and notice all of the school buses there from a local junior high. That's right, a bunch of hormonal 7 and 8th graders with bad attitudes and, if you ask me, even worse taste in clothes. So we hung out in the gift shop for a few minutes to let the school kids move on.

Finally, we get to the first animal exhibit and it's a bear! So exciting! "Andrew look at the bear! Do you see the bear??!!" Andrew then says back, somewhat excitedly, "Mommy, poo! Poo poo in there! Need to clean up." Poo? Seriously? Yes, upon seeing a live bear, my child commented on the excrement in the space. I mean, the bear is cool and all, but will you look at all of that poo.

This became a recurring theme for the remainder of the trip. "Look at the elephant Andrew!" "Daddy, poo poo in there. Need to clean up." "Andrew, do you see the rhino?" "Look poo poo. Need to clean up." Andrew pointed out the poo in almost every exhibit we saw. The only ones where he didn't talk about it were the ones where the poo was not visible (such as the butterfly exhibit).

However, we did see some lovely butterflies and Andrew found the monkeys very entertaining. The zoo has a large, walk-in bird cage full of lorikeets (a small type of parrot). So we bought some bird food for the lories and walk into the cage. I set the container of food down on a ledge and then showed Andrew how you can stroke the birds feathers. So Andrew goes to touch one of the birds and Adam says "Be gentle Andrew or they might bite you." At which point Andrew jumps back and refuses to come within 3 feet of a bird. Oh well.

All in all it was a good day. I love the zoo and hopefully Andrew will too. And if any one from the San Antonio Zoo is reading this, my son thinks you have a little cleaning to do.

Go sit in the corner

I was chatting with Andrew today on the way home from the grocery store and almost ran a red light. I noticed it just in time and was able to safely stop, but I commented to Andrew that I would have been in big trouble had I run the light.

My son promptly told me to go sit in the corner. Furthermore, he informed that I would not be allowed to watch Tom and Jerry tonite, that Andrew would be watching it all by himself because I was in big trouble.

It is a very strange thing to hear your own words coming out of your child's mouth and directed at you. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go sit in the corner.

The Best Laid Plans...

I am a big believer in the plan. I always try to have a plan. I am not into the spontaneous thing that much. My friend Kim always says "Plan your work and work your plan" and I couldn't agree more. And it just really bums me when a plan goes wrong.

Well, recently, it would seem that the rest of the world is set on thwarting every plan I make. Here lately nothing has gone according to plan. For example, last Friday my parents were going to keep Andrew overnight so that Adam and I got a free evening and a free morning (yippee). But Mom got sick so we had to pick Andrew up in the evening (boo).

Then, I had planned on getting my gardening and some yard work done on Wednesday. My parents always come over on Wednesday to hang out with Andrew so there is someone to entertain him while I work. Excellent time for gardening and yard work. What happened? Their cable broke and the cable man was coming Wednesday. There goes the plan.

Today, I hired a babysitter so I could have a little time to clean the house (again, easier to do without Andrew's help) and probably spend a little time scrapbooking. Nope, not going to happen. The baby sitter did not show up. Another plan blown to hell.

At this rate, I will never accomplish anything again. Adam and I have big plans to do spring cleaning this weekend and finish up our landscaping (including planting the vegetable garden). Any bets on whether or not that's going to happen?

Having the Plague

I found out yesterday that I have the plague. Okay, I don't actually have the plague, I have pink eye, but I might as well have the plague. In fact, I would probably have more visitors if I had the plague. Having pink eye is social death. No one wants to come near you. There is a 10 foot exclusion zone around you that no one will enter, with the exception of Andrew who has no idea what the plague, I mean pink eye, is.

Announce that you have pink eye and suddenly your invitation to social events are revoked. You are instructed not to come into work. You are expected to do loads of laundry. No one wants you cooking dinner or washing the dishes (ok, those last two are pretty positive side effects). I find it all rather amusing.

So, when you finish reading this post make sure you wash your hands. You don't want to catch the plague, I mean pink eye.