Love. You.

I wish I could memorize every detail of you as the days rush by.  You become more charming, more, vibrant, more talkative, more expressive, more loving as each day passes.  Your imagination astounds me.

Today you were playing in your "tunnel" that we made from a big cardboard box and you came up to me and said in a whispered voice "alligators! by the tunnel!"  So we tiptoed over to the tunnel and quickly crawled inside where we talked about the alligators and their snapping and I made an alligator mouth with my hands in a shadow inside the box.  You talked to me about how you saw alligators on tv with Daddy.  You were so excited and into pretending.  I'm so glad I understand your words and the stories that you tell me, as only a mommy can.

Then, of course, alligators turned into "Uh oh turtles!" and that into "Uh oh tigers, rarrr!  Uh oh zebras!" and then we were talking about the zoo, and the train, and the tunnel, and the peacocks.  So of course my heart melted and we went to the zoo.  :)  But this time, just the two of us.  We have almost always gone with friends.  But today it was so good to go, just the two of us.  And for the first time we didn't bring the stroller.  We packed up our stuff in backpacks- one for you, one for mommy- and we walked the zoo and rode the train around.  You wanted to see the snakes, you told me all their colors; you wanted to see the tigers and the peacock.  You saw the Hornbill and wanted to hop, hop, hop just like he was across the branch.  You wanted to see the polar bears and you watched with intense fascination, as you always do, shrieking and shaking with excitement each time Nikita swam up towards you and did his back flip against the wall.  We rode the train and the carousel-you rode the giraffe and were "really high!" and you wanted mommy to ride the wild dog next to you.  I bet I looked pretty funny riding the carousel with my big pregnant belly.  Then we walked through the Lorikeet cage.  I'm learning some of the specific animal names as you are, being careful to tell you exactly what they are called (not just monkey or bird, etc.) and having you repeat it back, because you actually remember!  I really enjoyed our morning together my love.

 "Yayyyyyyyy ZOO!!"

 "really high!"

multiple days of box fun