Saturday Zoo!

Since Stephanie started school, I have been missing the flexibility and fun of our old schedule.  So when Kevin said that he had to work on Saturday, and the weather was looking premium, I decided that maybe we should go to the zoo (I actually offered that Stephanie could skip a day next week to go, but she wouldn't go for that).

So it was off to the zoo, on what turned out to be Batology day, which meant bat crafts and, most importantly, bat themed face painting.  The line for the facepainting was a bit long, but didn't phase Stephanie, and they did some quality work. 

Gwen was not into the face painting, but was all about getting a bat on her arm.

My very very favorite souvenir... Penny Press!  Stephanie has half a book of them, and Gwen just started her collection of two last month at the aquarium.  Cheapest and most fun souvenirs ever!

The zebras and giraffes were so close!  It is hard to see the giraffes in my pictures, but they were right there too!  Gwen suggested that she go touch one.  We stopped her.

Not real!  But it looked real enough that Stephanie asked before suggesting a picture.

The NC zoo is just huge, with a crazy amount of walking between areas, so we didn't see as much this time as past visits.  We did, however, take the bus across the zoo a couple of times, which I think was Gwen's very favorite thing about the zoo.  She kept loudly announcing, "I love this bus!", to everyone's amusement, except she pronounces "V" like "B", so it was more like " I lobe this bus!" The bus mostly made me feel motion sick, as it moves quick around the curvy zoo roads, but it totally renewed her spirits. 

All in all, a good day at the zoo.  I hope Kevin gets to join us in the spring, as I finally feel like I know enough about the zoo to be a good tour guide. 

The art of faking it

I have often joked that I am raising Stephanie and Stephanie's tiny shadow Gwendolyn.  Gwen has become quite the little parrot, doing and repeating all of the actions and words around her.  She has learned to tell knock-knock jokes, as long as you supply her with punchlines, she hangs her head out of the door at random points in the day and yells "Ten minutes!" or "One minute!", she occasionally says "Mom, I have an idea!" and then tries to do a flip when I ask her what her idea is.  The other night, she was particularly excited about breaking into a new package of diapers, and when I told her it was time, she started taking the old one off and said, "Let's get this baby off".  You get the point, language gems abound, all words and phrases that she has heard us say, often times in correct context. 
I am particularly used to the concept of using what you see and hear in the world around you to join in that world as if you understand it, as Stephanie is a master at it.  Often times, we are so shocked by her apparent understanding of all things, and then she comes up with something totally and weirdly wrong, reminding us that she is mostly just faking her way through this young life.  Stephanie happens to be very good at it, and it looks like we have another young master in the making. 

Gwen has heard me spell words to Stephanie many times.  It goes like this:

Stephanie- "How do you spell happy?"
Me- "H"
Stephanie- "H.  What's next?"
Me- "A"
Stephanie- "A.  What's next?"
... and so forth.

The other night, while waiting for Kevin's bus, Stephanie handed out paper and pens, and her and Gwen were writing.  I am not sure who initially suggested spelling words for Gwen, but here is where I tuned in.

Stephanie- "Do you want me to spell 'Stephanie'?"
Gwen- "Yes"
Stephanie- "S"
Gwen- "S.  What's next?"
Stephanie- "T"
Gwen- "T. What's next?"
... and Stephanie proceeds painstakingly spelling her name for Gwen.  When she was done, Stephanie asked to see Gwen's writing.  Gwen dutifully handed over.  And Stephanie says, in a completely shocked voice, "This is nothing but scribble scrabble!" An absolute surprise for Stephanie and a moment of hilarity for me. 

I have been thinking about this for days, and I laugh every time I recall it, so I had to take a moment to add it to the blog!