Like Monkey's in the Monkey House...

My childhood zoo memories are tainted by feces throwing monkeys screaming in the monkey house, melancholy lions pacing in their cages, and empty bear habitats. Perhaps they were hibernating?

The zoo was so depressing, that what struck me most, was not the zoo itself, but the story of a lady whose hair was ripped off her head when she rolled it up in her car window, as told by my first grade classmate during the carpool ride there.

Fortunately, zoo's have changed considerably in the last thirty years, but, they're still not my favorite destination. When I was pregnant for Zip, we got a membership to the Oakland Zoo because it was the preferred destination of most of our friend. While we went frequently, Tizzy was more interested in running up and down the asphalt paths than stopping and looking at any of the animals, so after a year we let it expire.

Two weeks ago we visited again, as guests of a friend.

The boys had a blast!

                                                 Tizzy practiced his lemur leaps,

                            while Zip snuck up on spiders and attempted a web of his own:

                                             

                                             T mimicked giant crocodiles,

                   and was mocked by real ones. Do you see it lurking to the left of him?

                               Of course, we stopped and looked at the animals as well.

                   

                      And, at the end of the day, the boys drove themselves to the airport,

                                                and flew home!

There's more. Zip fell in LOVE with the zoo. He loved the animals so much and would have happily stayed for hours at each exhibit. 

Up until now, he's been uninterested in potty training. He's three and a half, and I'm simply uninterested in continuing changing his diapers.  It seems he's needed an incentive.

He now has an incentive, which is his zoo pass. 

The first few days home from the zoo, he used the toilet unfailingly. After last week, being sick, he regressed a bit. We are now getting back on track.

I will tell you when we get our zoo pass, and when I do, I will be celebrating being diaper free!