Never leave home without it

Today was my last day with Meechi before he becomes a full-time Kindergartner. He only goes on Thursday this week and really starts next Monday but I have to work tomorrow and Friday, so for me... today was it.

I decided to take him to the zoo since it would be our last chance to go for awhile. I do not do the zoo on weekends. I don't do anyplace where large crowds tend to gather on the weekends. I hate crowds. I love quiet weekday mornings at the zoo when all the other poor schmucks are at work. This amazing thing happens when you visit the zoo on a Tuesday morning.... you actually SEE the animals. Ya, it is true. You can see the animals and not just the fat, sweaty backs of the mob of people in front of you. Amazing, I know!

Okay, I got a bit off track there for a second. My point was that this was my last chance to hang out with Meechi on a weekday morning, so I wanted to take him someplace he loves. The zoo is that place.

He was a bit out of sorts though because we did not take our usual course through the zoo. Meechi is a creature of habit. Any variance from what he is used to can lead to anything from a minor tantrum to full-blown nuclear meltdown. Today's deviation led to mild (mild for him anyway) annoyance. There was whining and pouting and much complaint of, "this is not the right way!!!" We managed to get beyond all that though and still have a good time. Now you may be asking yourself why the heck we didn't just go the "normal" way through the zoo and save ourselves the trouble of the "wrong way" fit. Well, the simple answer to that is the giraffes.

Between 10 and 11 you can spend a dollar on a handful of leafy twigs, climb up onto an overlook, and actually feed the giraffes. We have never actually done this before and I thought it would be kind of cool to let Meechi give it a try. Yes, it did occur to me that the idea of a large, slimy, purple giraffe tongue touching his hand might freak Meechi out. However, I figure we won't know if he can tolerate something or not unless we give it a try. So try it we did. You know what? He was perfectly okay with it. There is just something about animals that is so fascinating for him that they seem to counteract most of the sensory issues, the odd quirks, and the irrational fears.

In order to make it to the giraffes in that one hour window of feeding time, we strayed from our normal path and it turned out pretty good overall. Meechi enjoyed the heck out of feeding those giraffes. He bravely held up his leafy twigs and let the giraffes tug away at the leaves. He did better than most of the kids up there. Most of them would hold up a twig and let go as soon as a long, purple tongue touched a leaf, giving up the whole twig at once. Meechi wasn't having that though. He held tight to his twigs and made the giraffes tug at the leaves, ripping off just a few at a times, just like they would if they were eating from a tree. There was only one, the largest giraffe, who managed to rip the whole twig from Meech's hand. Meechi of course found a solution to that problem and simply opted not to offer that guy any more leaves.

As for me? I was violated by that large giraffe. Repeatedly! No, don't let your mind stray to the gutter. He simply wrapped his nasty, purple tongue around my hand and arm as he stole a twig from my hand. I was standing with him behind me, watching Meechi feed the smaller, and NICER, giraffes when this guy swings his fat head my way. I didn't even see him coming. Instead I was startled by a slimy tongue suddenly touching my hand and attempting to rip away my handful of twigs. Naturally I freaked out a bit, jumped back, and shouted "oh my god!" I am then greeted by a little girl of about ten looking at me, laughing, and telling me, "that was so funny." Ya, let's see how funny you find it when stick a twig in your hair and sick the giraffe on you princess! Ya, okay... I see her point. It probably was pretty funny, but at the time it was just freaky and gross. After that, both Meechi and I avoided the big giraffe.

So, Meechi got to feed the giraffes and had a good time doing it. The whole thing was pretty darn cute. And this folks leads me to the moral of our story.... just because you've been to the zoo somewhere close to a million and twelve times, and just because you have more pictures of your kid at the zoo than you could possibly know what to do with, don't decide that leaving your camera at home is a good idea because you can't imagine anything you might possibly want a picture of. If you do.... you just might miss getting a photo of your adorable five year old smiling and laughing, and showing no fear at all while feeding leaves to a giraffe.

Oh! and you might also miss out on getting a photo of Mommy getting violated by a giant, purple giraffe tongue!