zoo babies

We went on our first trip to the zoo today! I bought a zoo membership, and I'm very glad I did. I've been to some very sad depressing zoos, but the San Antonio one is very nice. I mean, I'm sure the animals aren't thrilled to be there, but as zoos go, this one was clean, and they seemed to do a lot to make them comfortable. They're building one of those "African habitats" where the animals will roam around uncaged.

Maia & Sean liked it. I won't say loved it, cause they're a little young yet, and they couldn't see over some of the walls from their stroller. Next time we'll bring the baby carrier slings and they'll be able to see better. Afterwards, they were super duper tired.

On the way out of the zoo, we saw a mom in the parking lot do something pretty bad, though. She had an older toddler and a younger baby, and she was trying to get them in the car. The older toddler was crabby and yelling-- probably, she didn't want to leave the zoo. So the mom walked over and very deliberately poured a large container of ice-filled water or soda or something on the little girl's head. As we walked past, I could see her crying and trying to get the liquid out of her hair, and her mother was still saying "see, you're gonna get more..." type things.

I was shocked! My friend Jenni says now that I'm going places where there are lots of parents, I'll see more examples of bad parenting like that, but geez. I mean, if you're mad that your kid is exhibiting a temper tantrum, I can think of no better way to teach her to be a bratty misbehaving kid than to be one yourself.

Anyway, altogether it's been a good day. They slept like bricks after we left the zoo. Now they're playing, and I haven't had to watch Shrek more than once today. (It's in my near future, I can tell. I'm going to try Chicken Little for variety. Maybe if I can get them hooked on another movie I won't have every single line memorized. Nah, probably that's just a pipe dream.)