A Day at the Zoo

Last Wednesday, Eleanor and I had a lovely day at the zoo with Grandma Karen.

This is the third time Eleanor has been to the zoo, and she still doesn't have much interest in the animals yet. This time, I spent much of our excursion pointing out all the milestones for the 5k fiasco, which I'm sure was terribly fascinating for Karen. She did nod politely and "ooh" and "aah" appropriately, which I thought was nice of her.

We also went in the primate house for the first time. Eleanor enjoyed it thoroughly for a couple reasons:

1. She could walk anywhere and everywhere,
2. So many other children around!

Eleanor lurked in wait near entertaining monkeys or giant apes, until other toddlers innocently came up to the glass to watch them. She then pounced, grasping my finger and lurching her way, excited, panting, over to the other child. She grinned and screeched and wanted to hold hands and interact with them. At one point, I even thought she was going to go home with a little girl's mother—she walked up to the girl and then grabbed the mother's shirt and started cooing at her. I felt like I had been replaced! But of course, she's not fully mobile yet, so I just snatched her back and distracted her by pointing out a baby across the room.

I'm so glad that we have the zoo passes and can go back all throughout the year. The first few times, she was enthralled with the shrubbery immediately in view from the stroller. This time, she branched out to walking around the inside exhibits and making friends with other children. Maybe by December, she'll start to notice the animals!