Zoo!

One of the many things I love about Madison is the free zoo.   It is free. It is low-key.  And it is not too far from my house.  So at the last minute, I asked Jonathan if he wanted to see some animals, yes or no.  He said, "YES!"

So the two of us jump into blue car on a hot, 80 degree, October Sunday.  When we get there, I asked, "Jonathan.  Walk or stroller?"  and he said, "stroller."  I like that he was able to tell me what he wanted. 

Previous times I have taken him to this and other zoos, he is usually zoned out.  He does not react or point to the animals.  He treated the visits like a walk.  He would not make eye-contact and was usually in his own world.  Not this time! 

We saw the giraffes.  I pulled up, got down to his level and said, "What do you see?"  He said "Giraffes!"  So we looked at them, commented on their long necks, counted them (2).  Then he said, "Walk."  He was ready to move on. 

When we got to the brown bear, I picked him up, because the bear was sort of hidden.  I knew he saw the bear, because I heard him giggling a bit.  Then, "Bear.  Hi Brown Bear!" 

We saw the lions, alligator and bison.  We took a ride on the train and carousel.  This kid was being so so so good!  After the train ride, he said, "Go home.  See Daddy."  Nice job again of telling me what he wanted.

We got to the car.  I turned around and said, "Jonathan, I am so proud of what a good boy you were."  He totally smiled with pride.  And then he have me a high-five. 

It was such a nice, impromptu outing.  And so low-pressure.  Our trip lasted about an hour and half.  It was great.

Now on to a challenging week ahead.  Mike has a conference for most of the week, so I will get to try my hand at single-parenthood.  I'm a little nervous, and I'm sure there will be tears.  But I know we'll get through it.