Animal Boy

Joel loves animals, "nanimals," as he calls them. He was so disappointed last month when we couldn't go to the zoo because of the lack of available parking. An hour into the drive home after our failed zoo attempt, Joel started pointing and saying, "Der's a parkin' space. We can go to da zoo! Der's another parkin' space, Daddy." Poor kid.

Lately, I've been buying plastic animals at yard sales and the dollar store for Joel. I hit the jackpot when I was able to buy a whole set of safari animals for a dollar at a yard sale. I've been doling the animals out to Joel every few days.Joel's questions about his animals are endless. "Do yions yike to wim in water? Where do tigers yive? Are hippos mean? Do rhinos yike dis kinda meat (as he points to his forearm)?" His comments run the gamut from, "Yook, dis hippo has big toenails" to "Da yion is da King of the Ungle!"

Yesterday Joel asked me, "Mama, could we go to da zoo? I found a parkin' space." It just melted my mommy heart. Looks like we'll have to figure out a way to get to the zoo this summer, even if we have to park a mile away from the place.