Visit to the zoo

yesterday was one of those disastrous days when i wondered what possessed me to have children. why does no one prepare you for those moments when all the balls you're juggling come crashing down on top your head?

we went to the zoo yesterday with some friends thinking the weather was finally warm enough. well, you know i got that wrong! i was planning to carry Claire in a baby carrier and push Skye in a stroller, along with our picnic lunch. yes, i'm sure you can see where this is headed. Claire is screaming and struggling to breath all at the same time. i'm bouncing to try and calm her while pushing the stroller. but the cold and Claire's crying drive us into the only indoor section of the zoo--the tropical house. all the coats and outerwear get piled onto the stroller, but thankfully, Claire is finally calm and Skye is out of the stroller. then the unthinkable happens. the macaws make their loud calls and Skye flips out! she absolutely refuses to stay another minute in the tropical house. my friends' children are doing just fine. back outside in the cold, i'm thinking i've had enough and we should go home, but Skye will not leave the zoo without a picnic. so there is Skye, sitting at the picnic table eating her peanut butter jelly sandwich and drinking orange juice in her coat and mittens. and i'm pacing next to her, hoping Claire will fall asleep, wondering what madness drove me to come to the zoo without a double stroller, what kind of a mother doesn't know that macaws can frighten the daylights out of your child, and why must my child insist on a picnic in this frigid weather?

in the end, Claire finally fell asleep and we were able to rejoin our friends once they came out of the tropical house and saw the polar bear, the lions, the buffaloes and the prairie dogs. and yes, we all had a picnic near the buffaloes smelling the manure and shivering under our coats.

writing about it today, it all seems really silly and funny. how ridiculous that i felt the world was falling around me! but somehow, it wasn't the same at the moment.

but today, today was a good day. perhaps because we didn't attempt such a thing as a visit to the zoo. what i did have today was a parent teacher conference with Skye's teachers. that had its complications--it was right around when Claire decided she was tired and so she was gnawing on my shoulders the whole time and eventually broke into crying. but it was wonderful to get Skye's progress report and to be reminded what a great kid she is.

today, i know why we had children. today, i can look at both Claire and Skye and not feel like pulling my hair out. today, i can laugh about yesterday and think about returning to the zoo.