A Busy Weekend

As it happens, May is a bit on the busy side. Even without having kids in school, we've still managed to have a google million things going on, and it really doesn't look as though it will be letting up until the last weekend of the month. Then, thankfully, things should start to go back to normal.

Last weekend, we had our third of four trips to the zoo this month and a birthday party for Gabe's friend Finn.

I'm not sure I see the necessity of going to the zoo so many times in a single month. Of course, I've never seen the zoo as an interesting entertainment option to begin with. I can't say with any degree of certainty, but if I had to estimate, I think I probably visited the zoo all of a dozen times by the time I graduated from high school. Possibly fewer times than that. We seemed to go about every other year on field trips, and my folks took us a few times, but that was it. And except for having a distinct memory that the Jungle exhibit was too hot and stuffy, I really don't have any memories of the zoo--it made that little of an impression on me.

Libby, however, grew up going to the zoo all the time. From the way she talks about it, one would assume that her family held a timeshare burrow in the prairie dog town as much time as they spent there.

At any rate, we went back again Saturday. It rained most of the time we were there--great for keeping the crowds down, which was just fine by me.

When we got to the orangutan exhibit, one of the big monkeys was sitting right by the glass (yes, I know they aren't monkeys, but I like to call them that just to irritate Libby). Gabe, seeing a kindred spirit, immediately sought to bond with it. This turned out to be too much for the orangutan to bear, though, as it soon fled to the furthest point in its cage.

Then, for reasons known only to him, Gabe decided that he needed to pick the noses of all three of the commemorative bears, which he did with OCD-like procession.

Bear Two.

And a nifty little backhand pick for the third bear.

The birthday party, then, was great fun. Jessica (Finn's mom) went to a great deal of trouble to set up party games--including a pinata (though it had pull strings on it to release the candy instead of having the kids bash themselves and everyone around them to get the candy--which begged the question, "What's the point?" If it's not going to make America's Funniest Home Videos, then pinatas don't really have much purpose, in my opinion) and pin the tail on the donkey. It was actually stick the donkey sticker on the donkey, I guess, which was probably a much better idea than giving a mess of three year olds a tack to poke themselves with. For most of them, this was the first time they'd ever played the game. For Gabe, it was the first time he'd ever been deprived of his sight (except, obviously, when it's dark).

He actually dealt with it quite well. He stood still and listened to the instructions and carefully stepped forward to stick the donkey tail sticker on the donkey (on its head, so, sadly, he didn't win--but a good go for a first try). The way I see it, it was like putting blinders on a horse. It kept him uncharacteristically focused. It might be something to consider on a regular basis for those times when he won't listen and he can't seem to stop running around in circles.

I like this picture because it proves that it's NATURAL to open one's mouth when feeding something to someone else. I do it a lot, embarrassingly enough, when I'm feeding Norah. As if seeing my mouth open will encourage her to do the same thing. Or, perhaps, it only proves that I am only as advanced as a three year old. I've suspected as much for some time now, and I doubt I'd hear many arguments to the contrary from Libby.

And here's a little video of the feeding.

Next weekend is the double birthday party for Norah and Gabe! Weeeee!!!! He's certainly excited. All he's talked about this morning is the presents that he's going to get this weekend. As if he needs more crap than he already has. He has so much stuff, he doesn't even know what he's got. We can pack it away in the closet and he won't even notice it's gone until we get it out again and he's excited to play with it. Kids.