zoo

on saturday we went to the OAKLAND ZOO!  

you can tell by freddy's body language how excited he was (christmas time, is here).

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all my friends who are currently sans kids, going to the zoo as a parent is 100% different.  

i really love zoos.  i was born in omaha, ne, home of the henry doorly zoo, the best zoo in america (rivaled only by the san diego zoo).  so i love zoos (i also love animal planet and animal trivia and terrible movies about genetically mutated creatures (i also love parenthetical remarks)).  but in all my previous zoo experience, i hadn't noticed what 95% of zoo patrons are doing the whole time: 

trying to get their child to look at faraway animals.  

"junior, do you see the giraffe [in high-pitched voice]?  look at the giraffe!"

now granted, freddy was quite sick with a cold.  his little face was covered with crusty snot and sunblock (cute!).  but this boy would not look at the animals!  we were deceived because when he was 4 mos old we took him to the monterey bay aquarium and he ate it up, especially the jellies.  but of course that was when he was obsessed with light fixtures and he might have mistaken them.  because...

on saturday he would look at the grass.

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he would look at the other kids.

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or he would stare into space.

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he would not look at the animals!  we would wave our hands in his face and then attempt to direct his vision to the far away and very stocky zebras but to no avail!  he would not look at the animals.

except!  he did look at the tropical birds!  his head would swivel around to keep them in view.  

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the oakland zoo was extremely satisfactory.  in addition to multiple tropical bird displays (win!)...

they had a baby giraffe (excuse me, giraffes have the weirdest texture ever.  have you ever seen one trying to bend down?  their skin makes these stiff folds). 

they had an anaconda.  

they had baboons with the weirdest butts ever.  you know the ones with red shiny butts?  well these were bulging, like bigger than a volleyball bulging.  major TMI, sorry.  they were perhaps females in estrous?  that is the most pleasant explanation.  

they have a sheep + goats petting zoo.  the sheep mostly seem to stay behind ropes, but these goats are extremely generous with their personal space.  jared said, "well, they're domesticated," and i was all, "yeah, well i'm domesticated and i don't let strangers comb my hair the wrong way!"

they had fruit bats.  fruit bats bigger than freddy.  we peer through the glass into the cave where they are sleeping, and the first thing i see is a cute little stuffed animal bunny hanging by a rope.  then i see a winged claw stretching and distending as the bat stirred in his sleep.  it was delightfully macabre!  i forgot to read the sign but jared said the stuffed animals were an enrichment experiment for the bats.  

we have a year long membership (groupon!) so i'm very looking forward to watching freddy's appreciation of the animals blossom in 2012.  and a potentially new experience for me - getting bored at the zoo?!