That didn’t really happen, but everyone had a good time anyways. Ghouls at Grassmere (The halloween programs) kicked off Friday night, so they were doing all of the setup for that. The kids really enjoyed that, although both of the parents weren’t above holding trick or treat at the zoo ransom for the kid’s good behavior.

We’re going to head back tonight! Updates to follow.

We’ve been members @ the Nashville zoo pretty much from the moment that Mary was born. One of the nice things they do is have members only events. This morning was the ‘Members’ morning. They open the zoo an hour early, allow free rides on the Carousel, and you get to watch the animals being released into their habitats.

We loaded the kids up as normal (but about 30 minutes earlier than usual… Good thing they don’t watch the clock). Ordinarily, Mary is VERY tuned into the route that she takes in the van. Today wasn’t much different, except that they got Cereal and Milk to eat in the Van… So obviously something wasn’t QUITE right.

Then Dad missed the turn.

“Dad, are you taking us to the Store? I think this is the way to the Store!” with a significant amount of fear in the voice…

“No, I know a SHORTCUT to School.”

“Oh”.

That worked for a while… She took great delight in passing cars on the Interstate (HOV lane during rush hour… Only way to go). And then she saw the sign.

“Dad… Don’t go straight! This is the Zoo way!”

“Well, would that be bad?”

“Just don’t go straight!, we can’t go to the Zoo, it’s not open on School days!”

Dad went Straight.

William continued to happily eat his cereal, wondering what his sister was freaking out over.

Soon, I don’t think Mary believed that this was much of a shortcut.

“Daddy thought you might like to come look at the Animals for a little bit before School. Is that ok?”

There wasn’t much resistance after pulling into the parking lot.

“Now Mary, what are you going to tell Mommy?”
“No! I’m not telling Mommy. I don’t want her to figure it out!”

Any bets that they want me to take them to School more often now?

We went to the Wednesday storytime for preschoolers as we missed the Monday Toddler Time. MaryVic had a great time but William was a bit distracted. He wanted to push the stroller all over the place. They both enjoyed the craft and visiting everyone.

It was a nice day and we went to the playground outside the library.

Last year, Mary couldn’t do this without help. This year she has mastered it and insisted on having several pictures taken.

Very proud!

Lunch with Daddy afterwards. She was being goofy and refused to smile.

I found a toy that they hadn’t seen in a while and she’s begging William to share it. He would look at her and go “NO!

Dance class on Saturday. Another one spent walking the stroller.

Little did I know it was in preparation for this! We went to the Family Fun Zone at Thoroughbred Theater. We took the shopping cart with us. He pushed the cart around, chased the Chik-Fil-a cow and was able to flee the other mascots in this manner. I sat down with him in the chalk drawing area and asked him if he wanted to draw. I pointed him towards the chalk and pushed his cart on over. This was the second or third piece of chalk because I was so surprised to see him start walking independently. I was busy cheering and yelling at Greg who was being superdad and standing with MaryVic in the facepaint line.

After that I was brave enough to put him in a bouncy with some other tots. It was 4 years old and younger only and not crowded.

He liked being in but this is all he did. He went in it again but immediately wanted out.

The next morning I heard MaryVic coaxing William down the stairs. It is the first time since the accident that William got out of bed himself (the guest bed) and came downstairs. “Come on little fella, it’s not far now…” They were very cute. They haven’t made another trip down the stairs together.

One of only two pictures I have of William walking at the zoo on Sunday. I think there was the ‘help, my feet won’t stop’ red shoes deal going on. He would stop and squat frequently to rest. He occasionally laid down in the path to rest. He did not want us to pick him up and if we persisted in asking, he’d get up and go for a little bit more.

Sunday was probably the most he has walked with it getting less frequent as the week goes on. He does a mix of moving via crawling and walking. I picked up papers from daycare and we’ll see how he does on Tuesday for half day.

We’ve kept busy and went to Toddler Time this past Monday. He did walk around the library. He fell down the bonus room stairs Monday night but was okay. He calmed down fairly quickly compared to the playground fall in Arab.

On Tuesday MaryVic went to school. William and I did the grocery shopping and visited Home Depot for lock for the front door. MaryVic can unlock it so Greg has put a flip lock at the top. Not high security but it should keep her in. She stepped out one day and I thought she was with Greg, he thought she was with me… I found her wandering on the sidewalk in front of the house. I think she was looking for aliens. I don’t know why the child security doorknob thing works on the other doors. Yes, we do have one on the front door. I guess I should take it off now.

Yesterday we went to the pool and stayed around the house in the afternoon. It was interesting as the air conditioning guys were here until in the evening. A little more interesting when we found the hole in the ceiling but they were genuinely apologetic. As MaryVic, likes to say ‘accident’s happen’.

I twittered yesterday about the doctor and it doesn’t seem to be anything major. I woke up Tuesday morning and checked on William who was fussing at 3 a.m. I noticed my right eye hurt and went to get it checked. The doctor said it was probably just sinuses and gave me some prescription eyedrop samples. She told me to take some sudafed.

Today is a quiet, rainy day. We may go to the pool again after naps. We’ll just take it easy and let the air conditioning guys finish up. The patching guys have already been here and will be back next week. Air conditioning guys are back to finish up. Greg is home talking to them so we should be all done with that soon!

In a rare state of wakefulness, Daddy got up this morning and we went to the Zoo. It was a bit cool outside, but would warm on up to the mid 70′s by afternoon. We got there before most of the crowd, and was immediately in for a shock, and a treat.

William decided that he did not want to ride in the stroller, nor push it, nor be carried. William decided that he enjoyed walking yesterday, and would continue the tradition. From the car to the gates of the zoo. And then to the Macaws. AND THEN MOST OF THE REST of the Zoo. Kid did NOT want to be carried, would cry and scream if you picked him up. He’d stop, crouch down, occasionally LAY down on walkway, but then would get up and go. He walked almost non-stop from the Car to the far end of the zoo near the Cougars. At the end, Mary gave up her seat in the stroller so he could sit and eat some dinosaur chickens, but it was his stomach that got him in the end. I think that had he not been hungry (2 hours after starting this adventure), he would have kept going. Certainly after he ate, he was back up and walking again.

Mary Vic was quite happy to show Daddy the new Porcupines, and we got to watch a bird show with a hawk. Mary watched quite attentively, while William decided the most fun to be had was walking between where Mommy had sat to Mary and then up to Daddy, and repeat.

We stopped and had lunch at the Cafe there @ the zoo. Mary was introduced to Dipping Dots. I didn’t want to get her on those, but there weren’t any icee’s, and frankly, I was still in a bit of a cloud of bliss from all of the bipedal action William was demonstrating. I gave in.

After Lunch, it was on the play park, where guess what? William kept right on going.

You would think after as much as they did this morning and early afternoon, they’d be asleep immediately upon hitting the car seats. Both of them are still up as I write this.

Jeff’s try to get William to go to sleep, MV’s watching a movie as part of her quiet time, and Daddy is on cloud 9.

Now unfortunately, he does stumble quite a bit, and the speed simply isn’t there yet, but I don’t think it’s going to be long before he’s back. There were plenty of signs of it today. Anyone recognize this pose?

He’s bouncing back, and it’s one of the best feelings I can imagine.

First order of the day was a quick stop by the County Adminstrative Complex to drop a document off at Benefits. MaryVic was tickled pink to meet another Mary also named after both of her grandmothers! We also ran by HR for a quick visit. MaryVic regaled the nice ladies with all the details of a 1980′s cartoon series, SkyDancers. It actually is not a ‘quality’ animation but she loves it and could talk about it in detail. She surprised us all by talking about the ‘netherworld’ and ‘sky clone’.

And then we were off to the zoo! I tried to twitter but it can’t find my location yet so all my twitters were not successful once we were at the zoo. I don’t know why the first one from the zoo went but none of the others did. We must have just parked in the right area of the parking lot.

I had joked about there being 6 buses on a previous visit to the zoo and Murphy’s Law was in full effect as there were at least 20 buses at the zoo on Thursday. Franklin Road Academy, Davidson County metro schools and Franklin Special School District were there and I’m sure there were other schools.

As we went in, we saw the sign for the zoo show, Practice Makes Perfect, and decided to attend. I figured by the time we got past the first animal exhibits and had snack it would be time for the show.

First stop the big blue parrots.

MaryVic, navigator. She recycled the map right after this. We didn’t need it today in her opinion.

I was waving at her through the trees and took this accidental shot of my shoes.

Snacks before the big show…

The set, stage. MaryVic was most disappointed that this show didn’t have the animals coming through the holes in the wall.

And it starts and they are mesmerized because…

the trainer has a big bird that talks!

And a box turtle with three feet. She probably lost one foot via a lawn mower and now cannot survive on her own. This picture was taken right before she, the turtle, peed on the trainer who didn’t even pause in her dialogue.

William watching.. He was not always this still. The show didn’t catch his attention like it did his sister’s.

Oooo… a Hawkin’s Hawk. It eats jackrabbits that are twice it’s size by ganging up on it and wearing it down till they can kill it. This was the well trained bird and it flew around the audience area to different landings with treats on them.

Where’s the hawk!

One landing point. That is another trainer standing up there.

And back again.

The little noisy green bird. Actually it was quiet during the show but she warned us against them as pets, messy and noisy.

The Franklin Road Academy students were delighted to volunteer one of their moms for a demonstration. The bird took a dollar.

And, after it’s treat, brought it back and laid it in the ladies hand.

They let the kids have a closer look at the hawk and turtle but no touching!

William insisted on going up himself.

A quick stop by the meerkats. They were not out when we passed by on the way to the show.

MaryVic didn’t bump her head on the snake tunnel today but she was unable to convince brother to go through it.

William crawled around a lot. Following sister over the rubber bridge.

Deciding not to do the slide.

In the blue area for toddlers.

MaryVic ran over to give William a hug but I missed the shot. I think he couldn’t get up here and was a little disappointed.

So he came over and attacked Momma.

He can get on the ladder but was then stuck.

Following sister. She wanted us to crawl through the cubicles. It’s easy, just slide. It is easy, if you are short, otherwise it’s just another head banging day.

Come on!

Off to another section of the jungle gym.

Woo-hoo!

And William slides all by himself!

And since this is how the jungle gym looks with kids everywhere, we go home for lunch and naps. MaryVic was actually tired and ready to go.

William fell asleep on the way home but the day wasn’t over yet!

First, some pictures of William getting out of his chair.

The first step is saying hello! Momma: Say hello William! William: Hi GranMomma!!

He tried to put his foot down for a few seconds but then pulled it back up.

Came down on his knees.

And he’s down to attack Momma.

We went to Toddler Time on Monday which was on one of his favorites, trains aka Things That Go! We were all able to sit on the floor for the first time. I kept him very close to keep anyone else from stepping on him. He and Mary colored trains for the craft.

We spent sometime at the library. MaryVic was disappointed that it was not in my office but happy to take the ‘secret’ (staff) elevator on the way out of the building. Since they were good while I worked, I offered to take them for milkshakes. MaryVic saw the ‘Big M’ though and that’s where we wound up. She did love the playground there.

She would climb up here and wave at us.

Where’s sister?

I had a nice salad actually but neither of them ate their Happy Meal. They were each happy with the toys but MaryVic had promised to eat her lunch if we stopped here so the ‘Big M’ is not on the list for future stop. They did taste the nuggets but I guess since it wasn’t the Tyson low fat nuggets… William did drink his chocolate milk.

Naptime then off to Pinkerton Park. We played in the sandboxes, ran over the bridge in Tinkerbell’s Castle, did some swinging, sliding, and played in general. MaryVic ran from one playground unit to the other. I was so busy chasing and carrying William that I only took a few pictures of him.

Pouting because Momma won’t carry him up the stairs to the slide. Just try to do it yourself little guy.

Okay. He couldn’t make it up the first step though so I took him to a different slide where there were no other children. It was wider so we could slide down together.

This train unit is pretty well-worn but loved.

Tuesday was a bit gloomy, overcast but warm. We went to the zoo early. A hidden source of fun is the stall doors in the ladies restroom. William had a ball as this door kept swinging open and he would shove it away.

The navigator consults the map.

Might as well be comfortable.

Meerkats are always popular.

Despite the warm weather, MaryVic loves the Unknown World exhibit so we go inside to see the fish, spiders, snakes, lizards, and creepy crawlies. Strollers are not allowed and William wanted down. These fish are near the end of the exhibit so I sat him down. He stood there and watched the fish. MaryVic took a turn keeping people from getting too close.

A zoo keeper was there feeding the fish and the lizards, frogs, and other critters that live in the tanks. I’ve always been so focused on the fish that I had not noticed the topside reptiles.

Snacktime!

And we are off to see the animals. Usually MaryVic wants to go to the playground. Walking around to the animals was fine with me though. There were 6 school buses in the parking lot so I knew the playground would be a madhouse.

Where are the alligators?

The Red Panda. The kids would all shriek as it passed by the window.

Watching it. Take a picture of it when it goes past me, Momma!

Momma tries…

William may have spent too much time looking at frogs.

There are the cats, Momma! Clouded leopards.

And the koi.

But I want to throw money in! First you have to have some and second it makes the water bad for the fish. Pleassse!

The cut through at the Bamboo exhibit is open now and it does look like the renovations will be nice. There is a new family restroom building. You still do have to pass the Critter Encounters exhibit. We went in with strict admonishments not to touch anything. ‘Momma, she’s petting it!!!’ Fine, you can brush the goat… They do have disinfectant gel right outside the exhibit.

William fell asleep on the way home. After nap / quiet time, I mentioned going to the pond and fishing. This entailed getting the wire, bobbin and a hook with very helpful children. We had to dig for worms and guess who got to bait the hook? She had some fun though talking non-stop the whole time. I lured the little fishes up with some bread. They ate the first worm off the hook but never touched the second worm although they looked at it a lot. Patience and being still long enough for a fish to bite is not a her thing yet. It wasn’t like fishing with Poppa and Daddy where the fish bite every 10 seconds.

It was fun despite not catching a fish and they enjoyed the outing. Two poles are really needed though. William kept trying to wiggle away from me to get at it and fish too.

Recovery notes: William passed out last night and has slept a little better on Monday and Tuesday nights. I gave him some prescription pain medicine Monday and yesterday he got regular tylenol at bedtime. Yesterday was more of a rest day with Mom carrying him around the zoo, riding in the car and wagon. He didn’t get much floor time until in the evening. After nap on Tuesday but before the fishing expedition, he was fussy. I asked him if he wanted a warm bath and he said yes (‘uh-huh’). We did that before heading out to the pond so he is still feeling achy.

High note: He put his left foot down on the bed while getting in his pull-up last night. He has not been putting his feet down. I was holding most of his weight but it is progress for him to have the confidence to put it down. He did keep the right foot up. He is crawling around pretty well. He crawled around a good bit Tuesday night chasing a battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine. It moves slowly enough that he can catch it.

I’m going to call the county recreation center today about membership. My co-workers told me that it has a heated pool so that would be great for him and entertaining for both of them. They have both been fussing about the pool house whenever we walk past it.

The zoo egg hunt for MaryVic was at 12:30 so we went to Shoney’s first for breakfast. I managed to forget almost everything. Greg remembered the theater tickets before we were out of the neighborhood. I still left behind the zoo carousel tokens and my zoo pass. I had changed purses earlier in the week and didn’t realize they were not there until we were at the zoo. We have a family pass for the zoo and they let us all in anyway.We parked in an undeveloped area of the zoo back beyond the anteater houses and the zoo greenhouse. The zoo entrance for members was right at the elephants and giraffees exhibits. MaryVic put in her bid for a giraffe purse but was distracted by heading on into the zoo for her egg hunt. Daddy found rabbit ears for her and William at the radio station tent. MaryVic wanted to see the Shoney Bear and gave him a HUGE hug. We then tried to take a picture with the Easter Bunny but he went on break. Face painting seemed like a good idea and MaryVic loves it. Unfortunately it was one person and there was no way she’d get her turn before the egg hunt. Poppa and Daddy distracted her with a carousel ride. Poppa rode with her for his first carousel ride of the year. Then it was time for the easter egg hunt madness. Grandmomma, William and I had staked out a spot at the front. It became crowded quickly. Many more people attended than the previous year. While MaryVic was riding the carousel, E.B. passed through and high-fived William. He came by again but it was at a run. They did get to pet the ostrich before the egg hunt started.MaryVic picked up a few eggs. She started to only get three but went back to get more and Greg was able to get some good pictures. Egg hunting with William was more of an exercise. I had to carry him out and lower him down at an angle so that he could grab some eggs. Take those to Grandmomma and then go back and grab some more.It did not matter how many eggs a child picked up. Everyone got the same treat bag for the eggs. Off to the treat tents and everyone got a treat bag. Luckily William was willing to turn in his eggs after watching sister do it. Candy, easter egg ears, bubbles!, toy and candy! They were allowed a piece of candy and put on the easter egg ears for a minute.There was still some time before we needed to head to the theater so we took MaryVic to the playground. Grandmomma chased her around some, Daddy chased her around some. She played Momma knock over in the blue toddler area where William was getting some toddler time. She gets this look on her face, ‘I’m going to get you’ determination, and runs full force at you. The key is to start rolling back before she hits you otherwise you are going to get hurt.After play we headed off for MaryVic’s surprise, the Nashville Childrens Theater to see Go Dog Go! (http://www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org/yellow/dog.htm). It was a cool performance of the P.D. Eastman book with actors pretending to be dogs and all over the stage. Some slapstick humor, audience involvement, and nice music. It was very energetic and colorful. Everyone enjoyed although MaryVic was very disappointed that no dragon was in it. She saw the theater’s dragon on the tickets and next month they are doing The Reluctant Dragon. Between the two she was quite sure a dragon should have been around somewhere! Both kids fell asleep on the way home. William woke up enough at home for Greg to carry him in and put him down in the den. We took it easy somewhat for the rest of the evening. Ordered pizza and then realized during clean up that we had not dyed eggs with MaryVic. What was going to be a quick activity took a couple of hours as Poppa determined we didn’t have enough eggs and we experimented with vinegar and without vinegar in the dye.William was frustrated not to be able to help.

MaryVic had to look at the eggs every 3 seconds during the process which dragged out the dying somewhat although Poppa was able to distract her by threatening to eat the eggs. She was very good and gentle but it didn’t last as it became late and she became tired.

Eventually everyone was totally worn out and had to retire for the night. MaryVic did want to bowl on the Wii (NO!) but eventually settled down and went to sleep.

Alphabet story time at the library on the letter ‘Y’. Mary is in a pink shirt in the middle.

William was more fascinated with the playdough swiss knife from home.

They both enjoyed craft and coloring.

MaryVic’s almost finished Yak. She colored some more and then gave the picture to Mrs. Susan. Gave me a start later in the van when she asked for it and I couldn’t find it. She was upset until I remembered and reminded her that she gave it away.

The bouncy at the Polk Place Easter Egg hunt before Daddy and William got there.

Saying hello to the Easter Bunny.

William at the zoo on Thursday

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MaryVic on the zoo carousel, riding the Kangaroo.

After walking around to see the animals, a strawberry ice cream hits the spot!

MaryVic is ready to visit the zoo playground on Friday. I said we didn’t have to go see the animals.

William is watching his sister run down the snake.

Mary comes out smiling at him and me.

MaryVic riding the carousel again on Friday. She choose to ride a wolf this time. Mommy went on the carousel with her.

William sat on the sidelines and would wave like mad every time we passed by and yelled at him. It was fun to see him light up.

It was a difficult decision to go with MaryVic and leave William to watch but he did fine. She had been really scared Thursday when she rode by herself. William doesn’t usually like to go on the carousel. Maybe when there is someone else with us, I’ll sit with him on the bench to get him used to the motion.

I didn’t have as many pictures as I thought. Most were pretty old but fun to look at such as:

We’ve had a nice busy week. William’s cast is scheduled to come off April 2 which is a couple of days earlier than we thought. We are still going to Vanderbilt for the removal. First on the schedule are lots of hugs, a shower and a bath for him

We went to the zoo twice this week and had fun. William enjoyed being outside and MaryVic loves the playground there. She is happy just to go there without visiting the animals.

Unfortunately it is a huge playground and it is hard to keep up with her with William being immobile and very heavy. I did have some of the mommy moments of “where is she!!” especially on Friday when 2 busloads of children came into the playground. She is getting better about checking in on William and I as she plays though and there is no denying the appeal of both of them napping at 1 p.m. in the van on the way home.

William is wiggling around on the floor more and starting to actually get around somewhat. He finds it easier to go backwards but that has obvious problems. It also means he needs watching when in chairs and laps as he is pushing himself up and away more without thought for the consequences.

He slept through 3 nights last week so I think his leg is starting to hurt less. It is a little easier to put him on the guest bed versus the crib and turn him some as he is falling asleep. I don’t know how he can sleep on his side with his little foot up in the air for an hour without the foot going to sleep!

He is starting to have a red spot on his back where the cast is rubbing his spine. Mary Alice, Grandmomma Nicholson, has stitched some moleskin and batting together that we tried out last night to see if it will provide some cushioning. We’re still working on the getting it to stay put issue. The front flipped up and slid up but it looks like the back stayed in place.

All is well and I’ll try to put up my iphone pictures from the week as a recap later today!