Journey with You

Don’t ever do this: taking a two-year-old to the zoo ALL BY YOURSELF.

I did it last Saturday and my body still ached. It was about two hours drive from my house to the Toronto zoo.  We left the house around his nap time but for some reason he was wide awake the whole time. I tried offering him some lunch when we got there but he only wanted a few of blueberries.

I used Ergo baby carrier. He was on my back pretty much the whole time. It was a bright sunny day but he decided to take his hat off and I couldn’t put it back on. I didn’t dare to put him down. For one, he might just run away from me and play and “catch me if you can” game. For two, it’s kind of hard to put him on my back now that he is so big and heavy. I know some moms can do it but I am simply not good at it.

It was SO tiring carrying him for the good three-four hours time and couldn’t sit down and rest. He seemed to be okay until the very end. Our good time sort of ended when he threw this nice little water bottle on the ground. It was a metal bottle from granddad and very cute. It dented after hitting and cement ground. I got pretty mad and spanked him. He let out a little cry and lowered his head for a good half hour, no response to any of my words.

I felt a little bit guilty and to be honest was so tired so I decided to let him down at the kangaroo section. The kangaroos are fenced in but you can walk in and get a closer look. They want you to stay on the walk path though. Even though I warned him stay where he was with me, he took off and ran towards the kangaroos. Kangaroos were all lying down and relaxes but sat up as soon as they saw Cyrus’ approaching. Kind of a scary moment.

I then half let him walk half carried him in my arms the rest of the tour. It’s very tiring but my back needed a break. He was screaming when I was carrying him back to the car because he kept wanting to run in the parking lot. I was so relieved when he was finally in the car seat! Whew!

The dinner went okay. But I don’t think I will take him to the zoo again by myself, at least not until he is a few years older. Two year olds are simply too difficult to control!!!!!