"Did you blog it?"

We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo today. Katie was pretty cranky. I think one of the problems with big life changes and 3-year-olds is the fact that you never know if their cranky behavior is because of the big life change or just because they are 3 and cranky. Everyone is allowed to have bad days. I think Katie was pretty testy this time last year too. I'm hoping it's a stage and I'm hoping it's developmentally appropriate. She's just generally such a happy and easy going kid, it's confusing for us when she's not.

Everything with her parents is a test right now. We told her that we were going to do a lot of walking so she wanted her stroller. Fine. She hasn't used the stroller once since we moved (and remember that this was our primary vehicle in NYC) - she even walked the Texas State Fair. But she constantly wanted to be pushed by Mommy and hold her doll or not hold her doll or see this animal and not this animal. The fact that she didn't want to see the bats and rattlesnakes was pretty consistent to past zoo behavior, but that's about it.

I'm thinking now that maybe it is related to the big move. The last times we went to the zoo, it was the Bronx Zoo and right before we moved we had 2 trips, one with Anna and Sarah and one with Ania. Both were infinitely more fun. And she kept saying that she wants to go to the zoo in NY with Robin.

It's a nice zoo. Everyone says it's much nicer than the Dallas one but I didn't think it was amazing. One neat thing they had was an exhibit of Texas animals, though I was disappointed not to see an armadillo (the only one I've seen here was dead on the side of the highway). I asked Katie what her favorite part and she said watching the lion poop. Then she said "Did you blog it Mommy?"

The lion had a mane so I asked her if the lion was a boy or a girl. "He's a boy." "How do you know?" "Because he doesn't have a bow." So I explained that we know he's a boy because he has a mane, like some daddies have beards. And then we saw a lion without a mane and with 4 little cubs (Katie won't call them cubs because she thinks the term cub is reserved for bears). I asked her again what kind of lion it was. "A boy lion." "But Katie, it doesn't have a mane, remember like the boy lion over there." "It's a boy lion. It doesn't have a bow."

What has the cartoon world done to my daughter that she thinks wild animals should have bows?