The zoo, take two

This morning, our original plans for the day fell through. I checked the weather, and there was a 40% chance of rain. I took the odds, and we went to the zoo right as it opened. For about the first hour we were there, we had the place practically to ourselves.

It was a lot more fun this time than last time. The monkeys were whooping it up, the lemurs were playing, the chimpanzees were eating (as Zadie pointed out to me) and playing, and almost all the big cats were out stalking around. She made the monkey sign for the first time, then did it again while I talked to my Grandma on the phone and told her about the monkeys. She loved the fish, seemed interested in the bongos this time (last time she totally ignored them), and saw red pandas, zebras, a tiger, jaguars, ostriches, emu, kangaroos, a hyena, and more. In the reptile house, she made the frog sign at the frogs and was nonplussed by the snakes. About halfway through the exhibit she insisted "walk, walk!" and so she walked the rest of the way (missing the animals, of course). She was also really interested in the construction at the giraffe habitat, a couple trucks that drove through, and a zoo employee who was eating yogurt. (She made the "eat" sign at me and pointed at the employee.) My favorite moment was when we saw these howling car-alarm-like monkeys. They were going "WHOOP! WHOOP!" She quietly whooped back at them, then watched them for several minutes before deciding she was scared and needed a hug.

I saw a zoo employee with a creepy big teased-up pompadour who looked like Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-Tep.

Every time we saw a kid under about 8, she said "Baby!" At one point I thought she was going to join a tour group. Oh, and something odd happened. There was a little girl Zadie liked and was walking towards. I saw that her name on her name tag was "Mia." Zadie has been calling our cat "Mee-ah." As she walked toward this girl, she said "Mee-ah, Mee-ah!" The only thing I can think is that her dad must have said her name and I didn't hear it. Either that or my kid can read. Or the girl reminded her of our cat.