The Dark side of the Zoo

On the request of Auntie Tiffany I share the following dark sides of our trip to the zoo today. Yes there are sides- as in plural.

First while I said Ezekiel and I saw many animals the side I neglected to mention is that while I was pointing out and trying to get Ezekiel to focus on the animals he had only one thing on his mind- BALLS. It seems that in every cage or pen or area each animal had a ball to play with. So as I lovingly look at my son so intently staring into the cage, pen, or area and I feel this overwhelming pride build up at the thought of my son taking in the animal and admiring I say "look at the _____"....and he respond......."BALL" -- what can I do, the kid LOVES every kind of Ball and will find one in any type of environment.

Second, EVERYTHING is a Dog. We have just covered the two overuse and predominate words in Ezekiel's vocabulary. After Ezekiel excitedly pointed out every ball today, he proceeded to call every animal a dog. I have just come to the conclusion that correction is falling on deaf ears and for sometime everything with four legs, fur, and animal like is a DOG. There is no arguing or changing.
Next came the playground. This is where we truly entered the DARK side. As Ezekiel took his first steps into the playground today he was greeted by a not so nice boy. After the following you will understand why this description is accurate. This boy ran up to Ezekiel and pulled him down to the sand FACE first. This would not be so bad if Ezekiel did not take after his grandfather and continually have his tongue out. Yes- as you can imagine he came up with a mouthful of sand- covering the tongue and all. So here was mouth washing #1.

After a while of standing next to his side everywhere he went, I felt it was time to let him venture off alone. I decided I needed a drink of water so I proceeded to the stroller to take a sip. I had one eye him as I walked to the stroller, but I needed to look at the stroller to grab the bottle and when I looked up Ezekiel was GONE!!! He had decided to get off the equipment by way of FALLING. He tumbled out of one of those wonderful holes. Yes the holes where there is that great apparatus to climb up, but when it comes to getting down the easiest way is a fall:( So here comes mouth washing #2 because remember he ALWAYS has his tongue out. I was so amazed at how well he did getting sand out of his mouth and eyes.

So there you have it- it isn't just sunshine and roses at the zoo on some occasions.