The wrong monkey's in the cage

My monkey. And an orangutan in the background.

I feel positively un-San Diegan confessing this, but I don't have a Zoo pass. One of the reasons is because Jack is not good in the stroller. Other kids will sit quietly and look at the different exhibits, but not my child. All he wants is "up! up! up!" You try carrying a 25-pound kid up and down all those hills for a couple hours and see how often you want to repeat the experience. Maybe he'll look at an animal or two, but overall, he doesn't really care. If it's not red, furry, with a high-pitched voice and ping-pong-ball eyes, it might as well be invisible. Every few months, I'll take him to see if he has somehow acquired a new appreciation of the world's fauna. So far, the results are: not so much.

Today we made another foray to the Zoo with a couple of our favorite pals. The first thing we did was go to the petting paddock to play with the sheep and goats. All Jack wanted to do was play with the dirt. Then his little friend Miguel came in. Jack went up to him and pushed him. After he came out of timeout, he went up to his little friend Charlotte and pushed her. After his second timeout, he pushed Miguel again.

**deep breath in.... and let it out**

Things got a little better after that. The third timeout was in his stroller, which we've established that he hates. After that and a stern talking-to, there was no more pushing.

But there was also no more sitting in his stroller.

The next couple of hours were spent chasing after Jack, cajoling him to follow me, pleading with him to let me put him in the stroller or carry him on my shoulders, regulating his wanton theft of his baby buddies' snacks, and generally making sure that he wouldn't get himself killed, injured, or kidnapped.

It was actually pretty fun.

We had a such a good time hanging out with our friends. It means so much for both Jack and me to have such a wonderful group to grow up with, people who know Jack and love him even in spite (and maybe a little because) of his rambunctious ways. Thanks, Danielle and Sandra, for a great day!

But I still don't know about that Zoo pass...