Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax

I have a lot on my mind, so there'll probably be a series of disjointed posts over the next day or two.

Last night we took the kids to a members-only event at the Bronx Zoo. It was lots of fun and the kids got to feed the goats, sheep and llamas at the petting zoo since we remembered quarters this time. What I didn't remember was the camera, so no pics, I'm afraid.

Liel spent most of her time chilling in the mei tai on Robert's back. We had a few comments-amongst-themselves from passerby, and one woman wanted to know where she could get one for her sister, who was "going crazy with that front thing". I'm always happy when someone asks, so we can evangelize about the joys of babywearing. I honestly cannot say enough good things about this, folks. Babies like- even need- to be held. Lots. I mean, if YOU were tiny, immobile, incapable of communicating effectively and someplace brand new to you, would you want to: a. be placed in some plastic contraption all by yourself or b. be snuggled up against the one of the two people who are familiar to you? Yeah, I thought so. And babywearing isn't just for babies! Liel gets worn about 85% of the time when we go out still, and I used a carrier with Zion regularly until he was at least 2 1/2 and still do from time to time. At the zoo yesterday Liel had a great view of the animals, since her head was up at about Robert's shoulder height. She could talk to him easily, point things out, and ask questions. When she's on our backs she is directly and immediatly involved with us and our surroundings.

Of course, Liel is becoming more and more independent, so she didn't spend the whole time in the mei tai. When we got to the children's zoo she had free reign and raced around like crazy. She wanted to climb up on the rails to see the animals better, but swatted and pushed my hands away when I tried to hold her steady: "No, no mama! Self!" I appreciated the spirit, but since she was actually incapable of balancing up there on her own, we had a couple of minor squabbles over baby rights (which were luckily easy to diffuse by saying, "look, Liel! Do you see the skunk looking at you??" Her attention promptly divered she would point and squeal with delight, "Over there! Peeking out! Hi-looooooooo!!").