Tracey and I decided that the weather was good enough today for a trip to the zoo. Packed up the family and headed down to Brookfield. Tracey's folks give her a family membership for her birthday each year. It works out great for us - if we arrive and the weather is lousy or the kids are crabby, we can punt and not worry about having spent $35 for an hour.
Melinda is taking a much more active role in deciding where we're going at the Zoo. "I want to see the Leopards first." She's inquisitive and loves to run around playing with this exhibit or that - moving levers, and lifting flaps. She's been to the zoo so many times, now she knows where things are. Upon entering the children's zoo - "Dad, I want to go pet the goats." Very self assured, but also tentative at times. Petting little goats is fine, but she remembers an aggressive (big) goat from another time and shies away from the big ones.
It's tough to look at Gretchen and not consider Melinda. Is she shyer than Melinda was at the same age, or is it just comparing 15 months to 3 1/2 years? She's started talking about things (not quite intelligibly). I'm "Da" - most of the time and most everything else is "Ga." She's fascinated by some things and will often just sit and watch. Because her three-year-old sister is so me-centric (and because she's easier going), she's much better at just playing by herself.
When we started taking Melinda to the zoo (at about this age) animals were secondary. Jumping off of curbs and picking up stones was much better. Gretchen seemed most interested in the farm animals - we're right in the middle of the "what does a cow say?" fascination.
They're both unbelievably sweet. Our new evening ritual is first reading to Gretchen and then singing the "Going to Bed" book. At the "Someone turns out the light" line, Gretchen flips the light switch and then it's right to sleep. Melinda gets her books (two or three) (fireman books are very popular now) after Gretchen is in bed. Once we're done with books, she gets to watch me exercise. For a month now, she's spent 8:00-8:30 watching me Nordictrack. By 8:30 she's generally pretty tired. Getting her to sleep is straightforward. Her latest twist with the night ritual is sleeping in her tent. She had a great time camping last summer and when I suggested that she unroll her sleeping bag in her room, she thought it was a great idea. Every night for the past two weeks, she's started off the evening (and finished most).
Melinda is taking a much more active role in deciding where we're going at the Zoo. "I want to see the Leopards first." She's inquisitive and loves to run around playing with this exhibit or that - moving levers, and lifting flaps. She's been to the zoo so many times, now she knows where things are. Upon entering the children's zoo - "Dad, I want to go pet the goats." Very self assured, but also tentative at times. Petting little goats is fine, but she remembers an aggressive (big) goat from another time and shies away from the big ones.
It's tough to look at Gretchen and not consider Melinda. Is she shyer than Melinda was at the same age, or is it just comparing 15 months to 3 1/2 years? She's started talking about things (not quite intelligibly). I'm "Da" - most of the time and most everything else is "Ga." She's fascinated by some things and will often just sit and watch. Because her three-year-old sister is so me-centric (and because she's easier going), she's much better at just playing by herself.
When we started taking Melinda to the zoo (at about this age) animals were secondary. Jumping off of curbs and picking up stones was much better. Gretchen seemed most interested in the farm animals - we're right in the middle of the "what does a cow say?" fascination.
They're both unbelievably sweet. Our new evening ritual is first reading to Gretchen and then singing the "Going to Bed" book. At the "Someone turns out the light" line, Gretchen flips the light switch and then it's right to sleep. Melinda gets her books (two or three) (fireman books are very popular now) after Gretchen is in bed. Once we're done with books, she gets to watch me exercise. For a month now, she's spent 8:00-8:30 watching me Nordictrack. By 8:30 she's generally pretty tired. Getting her to sleep is straightforward. Her latest twist with the night ritual is sleeping in her tent. She had a great time camping last summer and when I suggested that she unroll her sleeping bag in her room, she thought it was a great idea. Every night for the past two weeks, she's started off the evening (and finished most).
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