Today, we went to Zoo Atlanta with Scott's parents: Dendi (Grandma Diane) and Ba-Pa (Grandpa Tom). We have season passes to the zoo, so we've been several times in the last six months and this morning started like any other zoo day -- heavy on the rides, light on the animals. Except this time, instead of insisting on riding the train and the carousel with me, Eli wanted to ride with Dendi, which was nice for both of them and allowed me watch and take some pictures.
The other thing that made today's zoo visit special, besides having the grandparents with us, was that Eli was really into looking at the animals. He seemed the most interested in the large cats and primates. And, he was especially adorable watching the animals with Ba-Pa. But, he still doesn't have a very long attention span for each animal (neither does Ba-Pa for that matter) and he lets us know he wants to move on to the next one by saying "bye-bye". Surprisingly, we actually got to see most of the animals at the zoo before he requested going back to the train -- a very unusual and welcome change.
On the other hand, not surprisingly, Eli was interested in looking for signs. Eli has been fascinated with signs since he was a tiny baby. In fact, they were one of the first things he ever noticed and pointed at in public. He used to look for Exit signs in every business we went into. And, one of his first words was sign -- "nine". So, between watching animals, Daddy and Eli went on a sign hunt. Eli pointed out all the signs and Daddy would read them if they were too far away, or if they were close enough Eli could touch them.
After looking at many signs and animals, it was time to head back to the train for one last ride of the day. This time Eli wanted to go with Ba-Pa. He probably would have been fine, but he was very late for his nap and he sat for quite a while on the train. He started getting really upset, crying and calling for me. Luckily the engineer let me jump on and ride with Eli and Ba-Pa -- problem solved.
We had a nice day and besides that one little episode on the train, Eli was extremely well-behaved. Additionally, there's one little fringe benefit to going somewhere with others -- getting pictures of the three of us.
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