To The Zoo and Funny Words

We took Bear to the zoo for the first time over 4th of July weekend. I have been looking forward to our first zoo trip for a year, and couldn't wait to introduce him to a little orangatan named Mahal who was taken in by his "adoptive" orangatan mother MJ in Milwaukee. (It's a heartwarming story, and Mahal and MJ are inspiring to watch if you ever plan a visit to the Milwaukee Zoo.)

Bear was unusally quiet as we walked through the primate exhibit and didn't say or do much of anything when he met Mahal. He held tightly to us and stared with big eyes, trying to process all that he was seeing. Finally, at our 5th monkey exhibit, while I was taking a picture of him in Dodd's arms watching, he started shaking his arm and waving his finger. I looked at Dodd and realized Bear was shouting.

Here are the only words spoken during his first trip to the zoo:

"No mo monkeys jumpin on the bed!"

Now when we mention the zoo or the monkies, he slaps his forehead and the words "bonk", "head", "mama", and "doctor", all swirl around in funny sentences that make us laugh. His commentary is just about always closed with a final emphatic reminder, "No mo monkies jumpin on the bed!"

There are so many funny things coming out of his mouth these days. A few weeks ago while eating dinner, he looked at me and said, "Mama?"  "Yes, Bear?" I replied. What did he want to tell me? "Shake you booty, shake you booty, shake you booty" ....and then he went back to eating dinner.

Fun stuff!