Back to the Zoo

Today it was back to the zoo... this time to drag Daddy to the new exhibits. Check out the Grizzly Bears and Mountain Lions in the pictures! The Grizzly exhibit is really neat... today the two bears were in the water fishing for their lunch during our visit. Being separated only by a thick piece of glass, it's a very up close and personal look at these beautiful creatures.




And, as an added bonus we had our lunch with a very curious and tame chipmunk!

Three P's on Independence Day

We celebrated the 4th of July with a morning P-arade in Monument, followed by an afternoon P-icnic with friends and finally P-oppers and sparklers when the sun went down. It was a busy and fun day... to see all our pictures click here.

The Confusion of a 3 Year Old

I generally think that Sanjay "knows exactly what we are saying"... what everything means and how things work. But occasionally I am reminded that he's only 3 and still learning on a daily basis how the world goes 'round and how and where he fits into it.

His vocabulary is developed and I tend to assume that when he uses a word, he actually knows its meaning but sometimes this cannot be farther from the truth. Take this for example... for months the bedtime routine has ended with him saying to me in an almost tape-recorded monotony, "Will you crack the door open, hold me when I wake up and check on me?", to which I always reply "Of course". Well, last week he added "Mom, what does 'check on me' mean?" out of the blue. I was floored that he'd been using this phrase so long without knowing its meaning, and I literally laughed out loud before explaining that it means I'll come back to look in on him and find him sleeping, with his eyes closed, in case there's any confusion as to what that means.

In trying to figure everything out, he has really grown into the "Why?" stage of development. Everything we say is followed by that lovely question and he doesn't give up until our answer is satisfactory according to his standards. This, coupled with his sassy attitude, compliments of his big sister, lead to conversations like this one in the car today:

Sanjay: "Where are we going?"
Mommy: "We are going to the car store to get a new air filter for Mommy's car."
Sanjay: "Why do you need a new air filter?
Mommy: "Because I do."
Sanjay: "No Mom... why?"
Mommy: "Because the old one is dirty, so I have to put a clean one in."
Sanjay: "Oh"
Sanjay: "Why are we turning this way?"
Mommy: "Because we are going to the car store."
Sanjay: "I know (imagine that said with a smart-a** flair to it), but why are we turning here? Is this the way to the car store?"
Mommy: "Yes, my dear son that is why I am pointing the car wheels in this direction." (fabricated to make myself look better)
Sanjay: "No, this is the way to the milk store..."
Mommy: **trying to change the subject** "How about we stop here and buy some firecrackers for tomorrow?"
Sanjay: "Are firecrackers crackers?"

... and the confusion continues. I realize that its close to lunchtime and so he probably thinks that we're stopping to grab a bite to eat. It's nice to at least see him thinking logically about the linguistics of the words he can't yet comprehend.

Another thing that happened recently which struck me as odd... Priya wanted to find out how strong Sanjay was so she asked him, "Do you think you could carry something that is exactly the same size as me?". And his reply was, "You mean, like another Priya?". As if people have no uniqueness, just like his trucks... if something breaks he can go in the store and find another just like it.

One of these days, he'll have most of it figured out... like his big sister. She knows a lot more about the way the world works and along the way, she has figured out a bit about the way people work, too. She knows about manipulation and how to get others, especially her younger brother, to do what she wants... she only has to work on the self-control to use this instead of her ineffective initial reaction. This morning they were playing with the Lincoln Logs and Sanjay had taken over all the long pieces. After repeatedly yelling at him, "I need that piece", "Give it to me now" and other similar demanding phrases, she had a brilliant idea. Let me use manipulation. That's when I overheard this much more civilized discussion (absolutely no exaggeration applied):

Priya: "Sanj, do you want me to build something yucky or cool?"
Sanjay: "Cool."
Priya: "Then, I need to use that piece."
Sanjay: "Here you go."

After handing it over to her, they worked together without argument for at least several minutes to build a really cool house that filled them both with pride.

Picture Crazy

It's ridiculous the amount of pictures I can take weekly, even daily... but put a new camera in my hands and I'm really out of control. I wonder if there's a Guinness World Record entry for the greatest number of photos taken in one day. I should apply. Between the hours of 4pm and 9pm today, I managed to snap 150 still photos and a handful of videos. Not because of any exciting event or anything... just simply because my new camera arrived in the mail today. Love it already. Here is a sampling of the nothingness that was going on around our house this evening...

The Club

This afternoon while Sanjay slept, Priya built "The Club". You have to be a member, a guest of a member or have Priya's permission to enter. I think her creation was inspired by our recent trip to the zoo as it consists of various animals (of the stuffed variety) hanging out in their individual cages. I snuck in tonight to take some pictures.

The cheetah and the polar bear (Simon) were set up next to each other...

Her horse, Flowers, had the most comfortable set-up, a blanket with no fence around it...


She didn't have enough materials to build cages for the dogs (Sparky and Chocolate), so they were just leashed to stay in place.

Of particular interest was the rabbit's cage (seen there behind the dogs) where she built a really intricate "latch" to hold the hanging blanket in place. Let's zoom in and have a look at it...



She slid a bracelet over the bed post, then slipped a pair of scissors in that at just the right angle so she could then take a clothes pin to pinch the blanket up with the scissors. Voilá! The blanket stays up and the rabbit stays in.

Sanjay happened to be in the room when I was snapping these pictures of "The Club". When I finished he insisted that I also take a picture of his cars. He'd be disappointed if I didn't share that with you, so here you go...

More Summer Fun

Some friends from Sanjay's preschool met at the zoo today and we joined them. It's been a while since we visited the zoo so it was refreshing to see the new exhibit with the moose, some grizzly bears, mountain lions and river otters. We're officially members again, so give us a call if you're looking for someone to tag along on your next visit.

Click here for a look at all of our zoo pictures from today.

These are a couple of my favorites:

Training Wheels - A Thing of the Past?

One of Priya's summer goals is to ride her bike without training wheels. We have been talking about it a lot, but tonight we finally decided to do something about it. A last minute decision, we pack up the bikes and head over to the local park. With abundant grass and some small hills, this should be the perfect practice ground for riding a two-wheeler. Oh, she's nervous alright, but after a warm-up lap with the training wheels, Daddy removes them from the bike. We find a nice gentle, downhill, grassy slope and get her on the saddle. First, we practice getting her feet on the pedals and letting her fall to one side so that she can learn to put her foot down and stop the bike from falling. That goes well... so we're on to some movement. As expected, she freezes up and needs to be reminded to keep pedaling. I hold onto the bike until we're just about at the bottom of the slope, and then I let go and almost immediately the bike tips and she's on the ground. Luckily the landing was soft... to be expected at a speed of about 1 mile/hour and falling onto a carpet of grass... so she picks right up and goes again.

Things were going well and each time she added maybe one more rotation of the pedals before finally tumbling over. We also noticed that she tends to slightly turn to the left when on her own. After several runs, she had an idea. She wanted to try on the flat grass instead of the hill. I'm thinking this isn't such a good idea because she needs gravity to help her since her pedaling is weak, and frankly a lot to think about when you're concentrating so much on balance. But, low and behold... when we let go of her on the flat grass, she kind of took off. I mean, we are far from there, but some serious headway was made tonight.

So, my immediate thought... I need a picture or video of this... but the camera was not with me. I grab the keys from Bartee, run to the car, drive home, grab the camera and head back over to the park trying to beat the sun going down. Priya's back on the bike, Bartee is steadying her and I've got the camera on... focused and ready for push off. Something is holding them up, Priya can't get her feet on the pedals or something. I'm saying "Hurry up... my battery is low... push her... let's go" and finally she's in motion. Then, at that very moment, my lens starts collapsing back into the casing and my camera powers down. Dang... I missed it. You will have to just imagine what she looked like on two wheels. I did manage to revive the camera long enough to take this shot, though not very impressive. Will try again, and hopefully have some pictures for you, once the camera is recharged.