Friday was Zoo Day for Olivia’s preschool.
She was very excited. She got to wear a special zoo day shirt (to help teachers keep track of kids) and bring her own lunch (a Lunchable, no less, Olivia has only been asking me to get her one of those for like, forever. I am cool mom).
Parents were more than welcome to come, in fact, you could volunteer and get in free. But I didn’t commit. I didn’t mention it to the other kids. The weather was forcasted as “ify” at best. And, well, I’m 23 weeks pregnant. I tried to play it smart.
But Friday came full of sunshine (deceiving, because it was cold!) so I announced to Calvin that we were all going to the zoo!
We packed up, loaded the wagon, and headed to the zoo in great excitement (got there 25 minutes early).
But I was confused at Calvin’s lack of enthusiasm. Didn’t he get it? Didn’t he understand that we were GOING TO THE ZOO?
I finally asked him, “Calvin, don’t you remember when we went to the zoo?”
The last time we went was October 1st, 2009 – I remember because it was Everett’s due date, and we walked and walked around that zoo, hoping it would push me into labor. It didn’t.
After that our zoo pass expired, and we haven’t been back since.
“No.” Calvin said. I was shocked. I mean, we had a pass, we went like fifteen times in 2009!
But then I thought about it – he was barely two that summer. I guess it made sense.
So I turned to Olivia, surely she would remember, as a three, almost four year old.
“Remember when we used to go to the zoo?”
She thought about it. “No.”
So apparently all those engaging, entertaining activities I try to do on a semi-regular basis for my kids – they’re all for naught. Give it a little time and my kids will believe their entire childhoods were completely deprived!
Well, we bought another pass. We’ll go at least fifteen times this summer. And maybe, just maybe, Everett will remember it in a few years.
I have to say, I loved this post! Countless are the number of times I have said, “Really, you don’t remember that!?!” to my kids. Things I spent so much time trying to teach or instill and it’s simply vanished. The upside of that is that you can get the same books and cds from the library that they loved 2 years ago and they are new all over again! Makes my life a little simpler.
I also love that even a master photographer like you seems to only have pics of your kids with the statues at the zoo. I have the hardest time getting my kids faces (rather than their backsides as they stand on the fence) and the animals in the same shot. Thank goodness for those statues or I’d have no good pics at all. 🙂
And finally, are those people with Olivia her teachers?! They look like high schoolers to me, but I notice the one has a ring on her left ring finger. Am I really getting that old?