First Trip to the Zoo, or, They Can't All Be Winners

Where did I go wrong as a mother?  Why does my son not like animals?  I loved, loved, LOVED animals when I was a kid--what connection are we not making?

We took Donovan to the Zoo for the first time on Monday.  All weekend he was looking forward to it; "Are we going to the zoo today?" "MONDAY we are GOING to the ZOO!!!"  Within 5 minutes of getting there: "I want to go home.  I want to go home. Let's G-O."  He said he was afraid of the animals, which I believe--I can't even get him to pet the neighbor's cat, but I thought just looking at the animals from a long way away would be alright: Nope.

It was a tough time--he was pushing all my particular buttons and I was not being the patient mother I strive to be.  Part of it was that I was hot, part of it was all the walking, part of it was HOW FREAKIN' LOUD the zoo was (on that part, Donny and I agreed).  Also, it was very expensive.  Everything cost money.  Everytime I reached for my wallet I thought, "Leopard Chow: you are paying for Leopard Chow."

I will say we made the rookie mistake of not starting at the Kids Kingdom.  And if you don't start there, you sure as hell can't get there unless you walk the whole zoo.  Or unless you pay to take the tram.

He did like the elephants.  And the aquarium.  And the Merry Go Round ($3 for 2) and the kiddie rides ($.50 and $.75, respectively) at the end.

We need to work on this animalphobia.  If I think about it too much, it makes me incredibly sad.

 I tried to get a good photo of him in the Aquarium.  As long as the animals were encased in both glass and gallons of water, he was fine...