Where The Wild Things Are

Dear Friends,

My Boy had a birthday.

He turned four and as much as my heart overflows with amazement that this little gray-green-eyed whirlwind can be so much bigger than his former infant self...

I'll refrain from bothering you with my emotions about this.

I'm going to eat a cookie.

Anyway, the actual day happened back in the middle of the house-buying era and therefore got lost somewhere between the frantic runs to the bank for 'just one more' bank statement and the moments spent pondering how all our stuff was going to get packed.

He was patient.

(I wish I could say he got that from me)

I cringe at this number, but it was almost three months later before we finally got our act together.

 It was a complete surprise and he never guessed what mommy was working on late at night. 

Thank goodness for Maurice Sendak and rice-crispy bars.

We had planned the party as a Saturday morning breakfast as we planned to take our wild things to the zoo the see the rest of the animals.

We stubbornly refused to acknowledge the 'you've got to be kidding' looks we received for asking people to be at our house at eight in the morning on a weekend.

We're weird like that.

We made it up to them with good food.

Cinnamon rolls fix everything.

The birthday boy brought out his bored, growly face especially for the party.

In Wild-Thing-ese this look says, I wish all these people would stop looking at me.

For all their bluster, Wild-things are shy creatures.

I just hope he didn't waste his birthday wish on that!

Maybe that's what we get for giving him Wilder as a middle name.

A person really should think about these things ahead of time, you know.

[sigh] finally.

A smile.

The end.

***

I would love to tell you of the well-mannered, sedate and serene crew we took to the zoo that day...

But, alas, a liar I am not.

This crew of ours is changing the way the World turns.

It's just a good thing many of them were confined to strollers!

I'm not sure the zoo could have handled it, otherwise.

***

What did we see?

All the usual...

Skin-crawly, heebie-jeebie, give-you-nightmare things.

Beautiful, colorful, wonderful, delightful, oh-dear-my-camera's-full things

Lots of fences.

We saw animals.

And people looking at animals.

We even looked at animals looking at people looking at animals.

***

After seeing all the wild things, T-boy was watching for his private boat.

But it turned out to be a train.

His monkey didn't care.

He just wished the boy would stop squishing him.

Monkeys are simple creatures.

***

When the sun was roasting, the concession-stand miles away, and the boat showed no signs of appearing to take him home...

T-boy got crabby.

And made mischief of one kind and another.

He didn't even need a wolf suit.

See:

before

After.

And it's off to walk with the real king of the wild-things.

***

I think I enjoyed watching the human specimens in the zoo as much as the animals.

They seemed to fade as the day wore on.

Before

After.

And here is a boy getting in touch with his prehistoric self.

[ugg-ugg]

Oops, he got eaten by a saber-toothed tiger for being too loud.

And here we have the Hominid Pre-teen.

Main function: sarcasm

Primary weakness: Exaggeration

Example: "I'm gonna die if I don't get a super-deluxe, blue raspberry coconut snow cone in a limited edition zoo collapsible cup with whirly straw and collectible character card!"

But look here:

We have one who shows signs of being more resilient than my own children.

The Hominid Becca-Boo maintains a smile before, during and after a long day at the zoo!

As does the Hominid Josh-a-roo.

They must be related.

And to your left we have the Hominid Teenager.

The male of the species shows little variation of mood or expression when exposed to many screaming children, hollering vendors, a wildebeest's hind-end and the other enticing sights and sounds of the zoo.

The only clue to his true feelings is the level of his eyebrow.

But give him some mechanical or electronic stimulation and the 'teen', as they are more commonly called, comes out of his shell. Showing odd reactions such as blathering incoherently, jumping around and, in more severe cases, frothing at the mouth.

But at the end of the day there is little difference between the youngest child of our crew and the oldest.

Love,

Took The Animals To the Zoo in NE