Zoo!

We have gotten so much value out of our membership at the zoo this year. We're there all the time!

Audrey loves it. She cannot get enough. It takes us about an hour to get to the zoo by bus, and Audrey doesn't like spending so much time in a moving vehicle (she gets motion sick, poor thing) but for the zoo? She will endure ANYTHING.

We happily go through all of this:

So that we can get to this at the other end:

I wish I could show you how she talked to this giant toy panda at the entrance, told him how nice his scarf was, promised him she would find him a friend somewhere in the zoo, described all the animals. She ADORES him.

Audrey lately is all about hugs. She loves them. So at the zoo she hugs everything she possibly can.

We always go the same way, once we're through the big entrance doors. Off to the right and up the hill, pausing at the flamingos and zipping through the primate walk through enclosure until we get to... the chimps.

Audrey loves them. She calls them the panchees. She copies the way they walk on their knuckles. She'd happily sit and watch them for hours and hours.

Another animal Audrey likes to see are the monkeys.

 

Mama, this tiger wants to come with me but he has to stay with his family.

 She makes friends so easily, now. In playgrounds she walks up to other children and demands to play with them, tries to show them things, asks them questions. It brings up so many emotions for me - how difficult I always found it to make friends as a child. How easy it seems to be for some children to ignore her or, even, be cruel - the way her face falls, the confusion as she tries to understand it. It hurts me, and I have to hold myself back from rushing over to hug her and protect her from it. Mostly, though, her confidence does her well. She makes friends, she plays games. It's delightful to see.

These little boys were showing Audrey how to "do birdwatching". You have to be very quiet, and creep up on pigeons and blackbirds very slowly to see how close you can get before they spook and fly off. Audrey was not good at this, but the boys were very patient.

"Mama, this penguin is doing a really big poo. It's great."

"Can I hug it?" I hear this dozens of times a day, no matter what we're doing. She wants to hug and kiss statues, toys, things she likes in shops. Those little gold Lindt teddies that are already on display for Christmas. Wooden penguins.

Ice lollies for the way home, and a little tiny panda to hug.

Monday Mornings

Every Monday morning Audrey and I go to music class. We get up bright and early, and get dressed. We eat breakfast at the little table in the kitchen, and then Audrey watches a video (usually Curious George) while I brush her hair - she doesn't like it, so the video is a bit of a bribe.

 
When we're all done, and usually running a bit late, we dash out of the house to the bus stop.

We catch the bus that takes us along the canal. The centre where music class is held is right by the water. Audrey has a wonderful time seeing her friends and making music. Sometimes before hand she says she doesn't want to go, but always when we get there she's happy she came. When we leave, she always wants to go again right away and I have to explain that we need to wait a whole other week before the next class.

Afterwards we have our little routine. We always, always, go along the canal to the very end where the little canal boats live, and see the "pretend ducks" - which are actually metal geese. Audrey says hi to them and feeds them and rides on them.

Then we walk along the other side of the water to the big bridge, cross over, and see if there are any leaves to scrunch in the little side street that leads us back to the bus stop.

Sometimes, if Audrey isn't too tired, we go to the button shop or to a charity shop that sells lots of good children's books. Then we get the bus home, and Audrey almost always falls asleep. I carry her home for her nap.

I love Monday mornings.

Treasure Hunt

The other day we had an Autumn themed treasure hunt. I organised it for some of the other younger home educated children from our local group, children from around Audrey's age up to 5-6 year olds. The basic idea was that we each had two lists of things - one list of things to find and put in our baskets (things like pine cones, red leaves, feathers) and the other of things we had to look out for, and tick off when we spotted them (birds, bridges, dogs, evergreen trees etc).

Audrey loved it so much - the fun, the exploring, but mostly seeing her friends.

They played in the burn until they were tired. They played houses by the big, old trees, the exposed roots were little sofas, and they pulled the tops off acorns and filled them with stream water to make cups of tea. Two of the bigger boys helped Audrey and one of her little friends over to the far, deep side of the stream and up onto the steep bank, where they found treasures like dead bumble bees and toadstools.

On the walk home she fell asleep, thoroughly worn out. I carried her sweet, sleep-heavy little self home and put her to bed, then collapsed exhausted and aching onto the sofa. It was one of those days where I felt like super mum. The other sorts of days come often enough that I savour that feeling.