Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Channeling her inner feline


My little 'lion'

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Our trip to the other zoo in town...

This morning I decided, T and I would go to the other zoo in town. No, we didn't go to the much maligned townhalls put on by the sitting Republican congressmen/senators. That being said, I'd love to give them a piece of my mind but they might boo me down, a) being a non American and b) holding more liberal views of life in general. I get the distinct impression I would also be labeled a Commie (its happened before here in Kansas) with an 'anchor baby'.

Oh well, moving on.

We went to the Tanganyika Wildlife Park. Its a little different than your average zoo experience as there is a lot more opportunity to interact with the animals, under controlled circumstances of course.

My mother will tell you all about her visit with the Lorikeets last year if you ask her. Let's just say you get to go into the cage and feed the birds, if they are interested in drinking the syrupy mixture the zoo gives you. And well, Mom's experience mimicked Hitchcock's movie, The Birds. I was a little leery to take T in there, but the birds weren't too interested in dive bombing toddlers today so it went okay.

We started off with the nursery, where they keep the baby animals. We saw Clouded Snow Leopard 'kittens' of two different ages. Many of the other baby animals weren't in their cages so off the giraffes we went.

After the giraffes, it was on to the Lemurs (they weren't too interested in visitors) and the Kookaburas and Lorikeets. The grownup Clouded Snow Leopards were caged up and their cages were being cleaned so we didn't see much of them.

The Red Pandas were pacing and lounging (see photo below) so T got to point and oooh/awe at them. She got to pet rabbits and turtles too. If only penny pinching Mommy had known to buy a token (they are sold for about a dollar a token), she could have feed the turtles/rabbits some lettuce but I didn't know that until after we got to the feeding exhibit. She wasn't as interested in the turtles as she was in the rabbits. No worries, there were very large bottles of hand sanitizers available, which everyone used.

T got to see a camel too. Had she been bigger, I would have let her have a ride on good ole Alice/Alex but she's still too small. There was a playground (swings too!) but there a lot of older kids (they all go back to school next week, yay!) so since it was just me, I opted to bypass the playscape and go straight for the penguins.

As you can see from the photos below, the penguins had no interest in being out in the 30C weather, frankly, neither did I. T was all excited to see the penguins until she tripped and scraped both knees. Extraordinarily slight scraps but scraps (cries of boo boos and owies abounded) all the same.

The Snow Tigers were not interested in the heat and laid down with their paws in the air (must be a feline tract, Phenix and Gryffin do the same pose). The Ring Tailed lemurs were too busy plotting their escape to pay much heed to us so we continued on our way.

There were lots of other animals but most of them decided that today, was just too hot for them. And I can't blame them but it was a good idea in theory.

We had a few times where we had to dodge the other strollers, the Dillard's dressed grannies and the unfortunately tunnel visioned and doddling Red Hat ladies, all of whom meandered thru the park, completely that someone might actually want to get thru the park and back home to the A/C. This polar bear and her cub were starting to melt.

Oh well, I guess the paths are just too small for my liking. They are too narrow especially when you have toddler who wants to walk while you push the empty stroller you remembered to pack so that you don't have to carry her when she got tired. Urgh. That's pretty much describes most outings these days, in/out of the stroller either being carried by the mother packhorse or 'walking' on her own despite calls to hold the mother packhorse's hand.

Usually we do multi mommy and kid outings with T's friends but today it was just us two. She didn't really say too much about that until we got to the parking lot when she asked where were her friends. Next time we will try to get them out but the two other moms we go out with usually had home stuff they had to do and it was a last minute plan to go to the zoo today so it was just us.



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T visiting the giraffes and she's actually not squinting at the camera (there's a first!)

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Hello up there!

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The poor red panda, he kept pacing back and forth.

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Nice bunny!

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Turtle!

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Too hot!

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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Revenge is best served with a soupcon of warm water and a dash of shampoo

At bath time lately, we've been having some trouble. Trouble of the hair washing variety.

Anytime S or I break out the face cloth to dampen T's hair to wash it, the crying and wimpering starts. Its rather pitiful. No parent wants to make their kid cry but you do need to have your hair washed from time to time.

I've tried being sneaky and I get "What you doing, Mommy?" Nope, that didn't work.

I've tried telling her that Phenix is being nice enough to let T use her shampoo to wash her hair. Nice try, but no.

I've tried having T help me bath Phenix. I thought that if I showed T that if a cat can stand there and get her fur washed, so can T. She ran away before I could show her how Phenix got bathed and then I had Phenix mad at me too. Phenix has ways of exacting revenge that make you regret bathing her. And well, let's be honest, reasoning with a toddler is generally not successful.

So I resorted to self sacrifice. Isn't that what motherhood is all about?

I told T that she could make Mummy's hair wet before Mummy's washes T's hair. She was all good with the idea until it came time to wash her own hair. Then the lower lip came out and away it quivered.

Well, tonight I tried having her sit with her head under the tap while I quickly wet her hair. That went quasi okay. Then she advised me, that it was Mummy's turn to get her hair wet. So I put my head under the tap and got my hair good and soaked. But that wasn't enough for T.

No, she had to use the milk jug/bath toy to further soak Mummy's head...after I'd already partially dried it off once. Then she rubbed my hair like I do when she gets her hair shampooed. Then to add further pay back, she dipped the facecloth in the bubble bath filled water and scrubbed my hair with it.

Not to be out done, Mummy exacted one last indecency...when T wasn't looking, I grabbed the shampoo and washed her hair. Not impressed. Out came the lower lip and bath time came to an abrupt and wimpering end.

Below are photos from earlier today. When I was on the phone long distance today, T decided to pull out every stitch of clothing in her dresser. Then when I was nicely folding them all back up, T decided to add insult to injury and raid her closet.

In the closet, she discovered two Hallowe'en costumes, a flower and a tiger. I got one at a yard sale and the other at a consignment sale. They are pretty warm for this time of year.

Below is T modeling the costumes. I think she looks better in the flower. The tiger is ever so slightly too big. She's not a fan of wearing things on her head. My favourite is the 'No way, no photos!' and the one with the pout. You can see the pout a mile away!


I think she looks like Hobbes (from the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon)


Roar! Roar!

Hmph! Pout, pout, pout!


I said NO MORE PICTURES!