Friday, November 25, 2011

Winter Wonderland at the Zoo

A month after you came home last year we went on a road trip to see Jenny and the kids. I had been a little overwhelmed, we both needed a slightly different change of pace, and we had nothing better to do so we made the trip to Ohio for a couple of days. During this visit we made a trip to the Columbus Zoo (I wrote you about this trip in June of 2010). You had a very difficult time, lots of tears, self injurious behaviors, screaming, and overall just a rough day. Not because you didn't like the animals though, it was because you could not transition between the animals and did not understand walking from one exhibit to the next.

Well, now that we are living in Ohio and we have five days off together with the Thanksgiving holiday I decided to give it a second chance. Additionally, the Columbus zoo does this Winter Wonderland where the entire zoo is decorated in Christmas lights and their is a light show after dark. So, we, along with the rest of Columbus it seemed, got the zoo early enough to walk around and see all the animals, enjoy a little dinner, and then watch the amazing light show.




Looking back at our experience in June of last year and watching you lead the way today is another reminder of how far you have come. You were engaged at each animal exhibit, pointing and talking to the animals, showing me which ones were your favorite by your level of excitement, which was the flamingos by the way, and not a single tear. We walked for over three hours, saw all the animals, and just enjoyed another great day.

Here are some pictures from last year and this year. Wow! Look at the difference!


June 2010 : Watching the polar bear



Today: Watching the polar bear and telling me ALL about it


June 2010: Spending time with the fish


Today: Discovering that the fish do not care if you sing off key


June 2010: No concept of what a Penguin was and very ready to come home by this point


Today: Trying to climb in while calling out "Happy Feet" (we saw the movie yesterday before dinner :)


June 2010: One of the few positive moments


Today: Posing for a photo opportunity

If you notice in both pictures watching the polar bear you holding tightly to the zoo map, I guess some things may never change :) But overall you have grown and matured so much since that first time last year.

Love you Baby
Mom

1 comment:

  1. I love the way you are documenting his progress...its so exciting to think of where he will be in 1, 5, 10 years!

    ReplyDelete