Zoo!

In all of the time we've been having trouble getting Brigid to bed at night, we've tried a zillion different things to make her realize that going to sleep isn't really that big of a deal, except that it is actually a really big deal, of the good kind of really big deals.

Turns out, our 'sleep is awesome!' logic only seems to apply to exhausted parents, and not toddlers with endless energy.

Go figure.

So, as Steve was putting her down Sunday night, he kept telling her she needed to go to sleep, because when she go up on Monday, I was going to take her to the zoo. And that did the trick I guess, because Sunday night was one of the first nights in a long time that didn't involve crazy screaming at any point in the evening.

And when I got her up on Monday morning? I was greeted with a cursory 'hi.', followed by a much more excited 'zoo!!'.

Translation: Yeah, whatever, glad to see you, mom. Now take me to see the animals, woman!

So, I did.

We met up with the awesome Jen, who is a fellow Style Lush writer that happens to live only about 45 minutes away from me, as opposed to the rest of the lovely Style Lush ladies, who all live in states that are not Georgia. Sadly.

Jen brought her adorable three-year old daughter Elizabeth along, as well as her friend Leslie,and Leslie's equally adorable son Zachary, and I think all of the kids had a great time wearing themselves out in various locations around the zoo.

What you're missing in this picture is Brigid shyly waiting until Elizabeth and Zachary finished with the giant bird nest, before she got in herself. Socialization...it's not exactly her strong suit, I guess.

By the end of the visit, though, I'm pretty sure she'd have gone home with the other kids and left me in the dust, given the opportunity. I mean, Jen and Elizabeth came with homemade peppermint bark, for crying out loud. Chocolate is not something that I can compete with, in Brigid's eyes.

 

This summer, on any one of our many zoo trips, Brigid wouldn't get near the big gorilla statue. The mom/baby combo on the other side, she was willing to hug. The big guy?No way.

Things change quickly, don't they?

Ditto for the carousel.

And the train.

Where did my baby go, exactly?

(Jen has some more pictures from the trip posted here, because she is the smart mom who brings her camera along on outings, while I just bring my phone. Thank goodness for other people's cameras, honestly. I don't think we'd have a single non-camera-phone picture of Brigid if it wasn't for them...)