Cranky boy at the Zoo
(and it was totally our fault)

A few weeks ago, we had the brilliant idea of taking Gideon to the Turtleback Zoo. I had never been there, but Alex had as a kid, and had fond memories of it. And Gideon loves animals, so it seemed like a no-brainer. We had planned on leaving early, before the Gidster's nap, so by the time we had finished touring the zoo, he would be oh-so sleepy and fall asleep in the car on the way home, and then Alex and I would have 2-4 hours of quietness. Sounds good, right?

Well, except of course for the fact that once we got there, we realized we had forgotten to bring a stroller. And no stroller meant that we would have to chase Gideon EVERYWHERE. So, a stroller was a necessity. We drove right past the zoo, and headed to the Livingston Mall. After a long, fruitless search, we ended up buying a cheesy Winnie-the-Pooh umbrella stroller. Of course, by this point, Gideon had fallen asleep. But we were determined! He would LOVE the zoo! And I had to work the next day, so this was our only chance!

We park the car, and wake up a sleepy and very cranky Gideon. He immediately starts with the "Nooooooooo". That should have been our first clue. But once he got more awake, he would LOVE the zoo! (Can you tell we were a bit delusional?) We put him in the new stroller, and on we went! The fun would commence shortly. Any minute now...

The zoo had a train. Gideon has been on the train at Van Saun, so I assumed he would be fine. Can we say...hysterical crying for the majority of the ride? And totally terrified of the tunnel the train went through? The couple in front of us kept turning around to glare at us. We tried to get a picture, but as you can see, he flat out refused to look at me. And my dear, darling husband. Can you tell that his brain matter is literally melting? I do believe that one of the reasons he was so upset was from the embarrassment of the Winnie-the-Pooh stroller. All the other kids were in these fancy, high end strollers, and here he is, in a rinky-dink umbrella stroller. My poor child. Already, with self-esteem issues.

The only highlight was the petting zoo. There were animals there that Gideon actually recognized, and could say the words. Like "cow" and "sheep". However, there was really no petting allowed, since Alex was convinced that Gideon would get malled by one of the fuzzy lambs. Or at the very least...licked. I was all for just throwing him into one of the pens to fend for himself. How else do you teach a 20 month year old survival skills?

He had not learned the word for "llama".

He did know the word for "cat".

All in all, not the worst. We chose to call it a day, and headed home earlier than intended. He did indeed pass out in the car, and slept for like 4 hours! So, now you know a sure fire way to wear out your child. Don't say I never do anything for you.