Nikos and I headed back to the zoo (thank you season pass) to kill some time...err, learn about animals...on Friday morning. His favorites continue to be the giraffes (although bizarrely, the ducks that share the habitat with the giraffes came in a close second.)
He displayed a new behavior in refusing to hold my hand while walking down a few of the steeper hills at the zoo. I would grab his hand, he would scream NO NO NO like I was jabbing him with a stick in the eye (I think a few other zoo patrons had their phones out, ready to report abuse) and then he would sit down in the middle of the hill and refuse to move until I let him walk on his own. Apparently the kid does not realize that at the moment I am neither quick nor limber and if he goes down there's no stopping it. So after explaining to him that Mommy is not presently in great Niko-catching-stealthy-like-a-ninja form (and that he was going to fall and it was going to hurt) I let him loose. Of course, he went ahead to prove me wrong and didn't fall once. So much for my lesson. I filed this under Ironic (also under this category is the time when we were kids when my mom tried to teach Mel and I that gambling never pays and she dropped a dime in the slot machine and then - ding ding ding - proceeded to win like five dollars or something. Oh! Another good one. The time we were out to eat at a restaurant and my dad was trying to teach Mel a lesson on how she shouldn't be crawling all around the booth and just as he was crawling on his side the waitress came over and busted him and Mel and I thought it was the funniest thing ever. See, you DO learn from your parents!)Here's a video of him walking down one of the hills. Sorry I don't have a video of my dad crawling around the Bob's Big Boy booth, I am sure that would have been more amusing.
After visiting the top half of the zoo we headed over to the little rides portion, some place I had never been. We were planning on riding the train, but since we had just missed it and it wasn't due for a half hour I switched us to the carousel instead. I was really excited for Nikos to try it, remembering how Katie had said Brooke loved the carousel so much that the problem wasn't getting her on it, but off of it. Yeah, well, perhaps I should have remembered that Brooke doesn't FREAK OUT at rocking horses. As we are waiting for the ride to stop I am evaluating all of the animal options. Oh the giraffe! Oh wait, the giraffe doesn't move up and down, it is one of those stationary ones and who wants to ride one of those lame ones. Currently sitting on the giraffe is a little boy with a caregiver that looks to be his grandma and I am thinking, poor kid, stuck on the lame animal that doesn't move. I'm studying all of our options a little too seriously (obviously having some sort of Knoebel's flashback - have to sit on a good animal that allows you great positioning to throw the brass ring in the lion's mouth!) that I miss the girl telling us we can get on the ride. Now I am all nervous, one kid is in front of us with his dad, grandma and toddler are staying on and someone is approaching from behind - what if we don't get the one we want! (Keeping in mind that there are probably 50 choices and I think 5 kids in line total.) Duh Heather. I choose a leopard for us - fun, fast, cool! - until I get an adamant NO NO NO from Nikos and a death grip on my neck. I know enough to avoid the horses and I start checking our other options, obviously staying on the outer ring. I settle on a cute little Dumbo-like elephant, far enough away from any of the dreaded horses to cause a scene. I set him on it and strap him in, ignoring the no no nos and him reaching for me with a look of panic on his face. Luckily, just as the ride started up the train passed us so I was able to distract him into looking at the train and he calmed down. Phew! I was beginning to get a bit panicky because chances are they do not let you move once the ride has started (even to that super lame little coach car in front of us that you just sit in and isn't even an animal - let alone move - and besides I wouldn't be caught dead in it!) Here's a quick video I shot of his first carousel ride. If you listen closely you will hear some No No Nos but that was more from me stepping away to take the video. All in all I am going to call it a success and I am hoping that next time I get to ride the one next to him instead of stand.
2 comments:
maybe this summer we'll meet up at the zoo and Nikos can feed the giraffes. Or if you're ever there and you see a blond zookeeper by the giraffes - see if her name is Amy and tell her who you know! I'm off this Friday, but I'm hoping you'll be otherwise engaged on Friday ;)
Connor pulls that limp arm, sit down and yell thing every time we are in a parking lot. Kids are so fun.
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