How Many is One? (Or: The Great Zoo Mix-up)

Connoisseurs of early Sesame Street will recognize the tune. Some of the lyrics are mine:

"One, one, one, one; let's sing a song about One.
I'm fine with just One!"

daddywhumpus volunteered to help out the day care on Monday by driving to the horseback riding outing, so the two-year-olds could go along. He'd take babywhumpus and A- in our car, otherwise, there would not be room, what with the space their giant car seats take up. On Sunday evening, he got a call that horseback riding was postponed, and on Monday morning, he got a call saying that the zoo was the alternate trip, and would he still be able to go.

I was still in bed with the latest: a developing sinus infection. My teeth hurt. My head hurt. The general area of my nose and cheek hurt. I had decided to stay home from work. Then the zoo came up. I decided I wanted to go to the zoo with the kids, bleariness and pain notwithstanding.

Here in the Twin Cities, we have two zoos: The Minnesota Zoo and The Como Zoo.

You know what's coming, don't you?

The accepted terminology is that "The Zoo" equals "The Minnesota Zoo," and "The Como Zoo" is "The Como Zoo." The Minnesota Zoo has an entrance fee, the Como Zoo does not. It should have been obvious to me that the day care was going to the Como Zoo, but I made two assumptions. One was that Pete had asked, and the other was that if day care had meant "The Como Zoo," they would have said "The Como Zoo." Thus, even though the question "Does he mean the Como Zoo?" was lingering in my head, up until the time we pulled away from day care with the kids strapped in, I was on the event horizon between Benadryl and Sudafed, and I didn't say anything.

We got to The Zoo and loaded in. As we were sitting near the main entrance, Pete and I having extra coffee and the boys having some banana, we made the discovery, through a small series of phone calls, that we were visiting two different zoos together. The other day care kids were by the main entrance of the Como Zoo in Saint Paul, and we were by the main entrance of The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. These sites are twenty miles apart, so we elected to stay where we were and meet up back at day care at 1:00.

Observations:

1. Watching Other People's Kids is nerve-wracking, and I think I took more care with A- than I do with babywhumpus.

2. It's not just that Finn is a boy, he's an active kid who doesn't listen as well as other kids, at least in this admittedly very small data sample. A- would sit still and also listened to us. Then again, when it came to walking, Finn was being clingy and wanted to be carried. He's also a follower, in some respects, who waits for A- to do stuff and then copies.

3. One. One is good. Two is one too many. To say I am too old for two is an accurate statement. By the time daddywhumpus dropped me off at home, I was barely able to climb into bed. We adopted a zone defense, even though we initially planned on a man-to-man. The zone worked out much better given the terrain.