April 16, 2017

Dear Baby,

After several months of a tease serenade of the title song, we finally took you to the zoo with some friends. I don’t really know how I feel about the zoo in terms of it being a weird place where wild animals are put on display for our amusement but nonetheless, it was high time you saw some animals in real life.

I worried that you might be fearful of seeing them as you were last summer when we took you to Riverdale farm and you cried at the horses but figured you’ve come a long  way with maturity and animal related interests.

You were a star. You love seeing the animals and their weird habitats and you only cried once when the hyena came to close to the glass wall you were watching him from. I can’t blame you. We’ve all seen Lion King and the hyenas are worth fearing.

The Toronto Zoo is fucking crazy because it is massive so you can basically walk for a zillion hours and see like, 2 animals. We actually saw 6 animals (and partially due to about 20 minutes of empty space we had to walk through that used to house the elephants who no longer reside at the zoo.)

I can’t say it was a workout but I can’t say that I wasn’t DYING for a nap after either…

You also rode your first carousel which you took to in a funny way. I didn’t know this but you seem to have a strange fear of riding on animal backs. You were happy to sit in a pod but you’d be damed if you were going to ride a monkey or parrot. DAMNED. That’s a weird fear that I think maybe we need to work on because I’ll be damned if you won’t go on rides with me when you are old enough. Your dad already cacked out on me a few years ago claiming that rides make him nauseous all of a sudden so you are my second last hope to have fun at Wonderland and other parks. No pressure.

Overall I would say that your enjoyment and delight outweighed my hesitation about the zoo even though I still don’t think it is a very nice place.

But the moral of this post is to be kind and respectful to animals and know that the zoo can be a great place to observe and learn but that animals are the happiest and best when they are left to themselves in their natural homes. What? We put you in a cage? It’s called a crib and it’s for your own safety. Get over it.

xo

Mom