Today I hung out with a friend of mine from high-school. She is the first person I met when we moved to Reno and I started high-school. Her first and middle names are the same as mine and she lived exactly 1 block away from me. Clearly our friendship was meant to be a long-lasting one.
She had a baby almost a year ago, and I’ve never met him, so this trip is a great opportunity to catch up with her and her family.
She looks exactly like I remember her, and it felt like it hasn’t been 10 years since we last saw each other. We just eased right back into our friendship.
Her baby is crawling now, and he is a tank. Not in size – he is actually pretty small – but in sheer will power he channels a tank. If something gets in his way, he attempts to go through it. Not around, over, or under, but through. He is also very persistent. You’ll hear “bonk bonk bonk” and my friend will say…”Oh, Baby is ramming his head into the credenza. You’d think he’d learn by now that you can’t just go through solid objects.” Then she’ll leisurely stroll down the hall to grab him “bonk bonk bonk…”
We decided to go to the zoo. Now, what happened at the zoo is pure karma. Tales of old say that Grandma paid a pretty penny to take me to the zoo when I was a kid, and all I did was stare at the water running through the gutters for the entire day. I never looked up long enough to see a hair or a feather, let alone an entire animal. I remember having quite a nice day, but Grandma was apparently uninspired.
Here is what happened from Baby’s point of view:
Monkeys: “What is everyone looking at? Ooooo, my feet! My feet are so funny! I wonder if I can grab them. Yep. Ooo…that tickles. Look! Wood! Wow that wood is cool. Hey! A little girl…I wonder if I can reach her if … I … just …stretch…”
Camels: “Wow. I don’t know what everyone is looking at. I think I’ll just chew on my overalls for awhile.”
And so on…
We did have a few big moments.
Lorikeets: Lorikeets are very sweet and sociable parrot-like birds. I noticed that Baby likes to bounce, and interestingly enough, the Lorikeets like to bounce too. I thought maybe they’d hit it off. Sure enough, we got in the Lorikeet room and targeted a little green guy. Bird bounced. Baby bounced. Bird bounced closer. Baby bounced very seriously. Bird bounced onto my shoulder. Baby bounced in response. (It would have been tremendously uninspiring if the bird had pooped on my shoulder, I was hoping for it – for the sake of the blog, but I’m sorry, folks, it didn’t happen.)
StingRays: They had a shallow pool of sting rays that you can feed and pet. I convinced my dubious friend that the stingrays would be fun, so I purchased some frozen sardines, grabbed Baby, and headed to the pool. The stingrays swoosh around the pool in a counterclockwise direction. They varied in size from 9 inches across to a couple of feet. As they swoop around they see you dangling the sardine and they open their mouths. Their mouths look kind of like wide, flat scoops. Then, with their mouths open, they come right up to you, grab the sardine, flap their wings, and spllllashhh — water all over you. Sometimes multiple stingrays pile on top of each other and clamor for your attention. If you’ve never seen a stingray clamor – you have to put that on your “to do before I die” list. They also let you pet them as they whoosh by. They feel smooth and soft; the bigger ones had some boney spines down their backs. Baby loved these guys. He laughed when they splashed us, and he even put his hand in the water!
Pink Flamingos: The bright coral flamingos were housed in a natural looking stream bed. When you cross over a bridge and turn your head – there they are – neon grace. Baby immediately saw them, and his mouth opened a little. He stared intensely for a long time then smiled. This is also exactly what I did.
At the end of the day my friend, her hubby, baby, doggie, young kittie, old kittie, mean kittie, and I relaxed at her house and munched on a batch of ridiculously gooey homemade chocolate raspberry brownies. They were gooeylicious! We all agreed that Mom would have loved these brownies, if only she had caught her flight. Then we all crossed our fingers, bowed or heads, and said a little prayer that she catches her flight tomorrow!
Glad to hear about the fab visit with friend and baby, the festive trip to the zoo, and very jealous of the awesome sounding brownies. The baby scene around here probably looks a bit uninspired from the outside, but we’re having a lot of fun. (Perhaps lack of sleep distorts one’s perception of a good time???) Hope Mom made it there and the trip is back on track
Yes, Mom and I have confirmed that lack of sleep does distort ones point of view; we actually liked dancing to Prince music. This only happens, apparently, after midnight.