Adventures in Babysitting: The Zoo (Part III)

The following morning we, the 3 of us, headed to the zoo for something to do. The zoo is a great place, but quite annoying because they dangle carrots (ice cream) at every turn and for a child who loves ice cream, it's a huge distraction. So, we looked at the monkeys (and ice cream) and the fish (and ice cream) and the seals (and ice cream) and the lions (and ice cream) and the tiger (and ice cream) and the buffalo (and ice cream) and the reindeer (and ice cream) and the giraffe (and ice cream) and the zebras (and ice cream) and the birds (and ice cream) and the goats (and ice cream) and the... wait, there's still ice cream. We should have ice cream. Now. But, we haven't had lunch yet. Let's have it AFTER lunch and not at the zoo. 

Nope. That was not a good idea. Not what she had in mind. 

At this point, nothing matters more than ice cream. Even Sparky, the seal, who hasn't changed his impressive positions (sitting sideways with his nose in the air) for the entire hour that we have been at the zoo, can't distract the ice-cream chasing little girl. She's getting more and more upset about the lack of ice cream and we're getting more and more like "We should go home now." After she has a small, but very public meltdown, Jeff carries her to the car...  I hoped nobody thought we were kidnappers, but she loves Jeff, so it didn't seem to be an issue. 

Once we're in the car, she's like a whole new gal. "I guess I do want to go to McDonald's" (we had promised her McDonald's and ice cream after the zoo, but she insisted she didn't like McDonald's because she wanted pointy ice cream and not flat). Huh, I feel confused. Again. You'd think that because I was once a child, perhaps I could relate or remember these strange, fluctuating emotions, but I couldn't. I guess in a way it's like "out of sight, out of mind." 

Once we got there, she was pleased as punch as she ate her Happy Meal and played in the Playland. She had a grand time meeting other kids and introducing herself. So cute:) In fact, we got an insider's view of childhood friend-making. There were 2 girls her age sitting next to us at the table beside us. She looks over at the older one and says, "Hey, wanna be my friend?" Turned out, the girl did want to be her friend. "Great, let's go to the slide together." And off they went. If only adult relationships were that easy. 

Then, as we left and as promised, we got an ice cream cone (it was even "flat") and she enjoyed it immensely. On the way home she chattered excitedly about her flat ice cream and it was happy times for all. 

Every experience is a learning one. Yup.