We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

We went to the zoo today with some friends who had scored free tickets. Booyah!

When I was getting ready to go, Jeshua nabbed some things out of my makeup box. Sigh. I am always underestimating his ability to open things!



The zoo was awesome. Jesh is just old enough to enjoy it. He was very impressed with the bison and the bears. Here he is watching some birds. (I don't remember what kind. We saw a lot of birds.)

He classified pretty much everything we saw as a dog or a bird. Here is his reaction to the lemurs (which are dogs, FYI):

When we stopped for a potty break for those of us not wearing diapers, Jeshua was very selective about his seat.

And he enjoyed the park's music.

One of his new phrases is, "What's that?" though it sounds more like "Whadat?" He had lots of opportunities to ask that today since his animal experience is limited to NYC pets and our animal sounds books.

The best part of the zoo for Jesh, I think, was the children's zoo. It started with this cool prairie dog exhibit.



Here you get a prairie dog's perspective. Maybe it's more like a fugitive prairie dog's perspective.

Lots of people at the zoo were serious about lunch, though I didn't see anyone actually picnicking.

The children's zoo gave the kids a chance to see what it was like to be in the animal's habitat, like an otter's home.

Ears like a fox.



The children's zoo also let the kids get really close to some animals. I've been trying to think of the word for these monkeys. I think they are marmosets, but all I could think of was marzipan!

The kid LOVED the duck pond. Ducks? Really?

He also loved climbing the fences. Can you see how high he climbs by himself in this video?

The highlight of the children's zoo is a petting zoo at the end. The petting zoo is the whole reason we paid the extra $4 to visit the children's zoo.

As you see, our experience with the petting didn't start well. We coaxed him to try again. He certainly wasn't going to have a chance to get over his new fear of sheep once we were home!

And after a few tries he was having fun.

Not a dog or a bird! Progress!

At this point we were famished so we got dinner at Little Italy in the Bronx.



I have been told that this Little Italy is way more legitimately Italian than the Little Italy in Manhattan, and I am now a believer. Not only was the food delicious and the people happy and loud, but the bartender, Antonio, possibly the owner, came over and smooched both babies on the forehead with a hearty "God bless you!" It was awesome.

Our train ride home was long! Initially we had a bunch of rowdy boys on our train car. They were bawdy enough that we turned Jesh around so he couldn't see them, but before we did, he thought they were pretty funny.

Reading to pass the time.

So there is the story of our extra fun day in the city.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad! Glad we'll be seeing you soon.