The One with the Zoo

So the boy is two and spent his birthday on a day trip to the zoo with Mummy, Daddy, Nanny P and Granddad Atu!


The Zoo was an "experience"! 


To be fair if you keep telling a two year old "We're going to the zoo on your birthday" and he's never been to a zoo before how on earth is he supposed to know what the heck a "zoo" actually is?


The animals were secondary really. To be honest it wouldn't have mattered if they were there or not, he just loved running around in big open spaces, playing in the play area and dragging Granddad Atu about by his hand saying "Come come, in there" and taking him off places. 


It was a cold February day on Monday so if the animals were actually out and about they weren't doing a great deal. One red panda had been curled up in ball so long my Dad insisted it was actually a brush left by one of the zoo keepers. 


The lions however were "active" And by active I mean having a bit of nook just as we got there to view them.


Of course being the mature sensible people that we are, myself, hubby and my parents all got the giggles. The boy was blissfully oblivious thank goodness but matters weren't helped by my father shouting out to the lioness who was being mounted


"There you go love. Lie back and think of Africa!"


The lioness didn't look that bothered to be honest and I couldn't decide if she was bored or exhausted but either way she looked like she was about to have a fag and a flick through a Woman's Realm!  


I have to confess I've never been much of a fan of the zoo. I always found you spend half the time peering into seemingly empty cages and pens desperately trying to find an animal to look at. 


"Oh look there's it's tail" as a monkey disappears back into the warmth and safety of it's den lobbing a banana skin at you as he goes.


I once, to my shame, got out of going to the zoo for the day with my parents by telling them the local one had closed down. I was about 12 and quite frankly couldn't be arsed to trudge round all day only to be rewarded with a glimpse of a tigers bum! This was long before the internet and they didn't phone them up for some reason, they just took my word for it, so we didn't go!


However going to the zoo now does sound more inviting to me than to my pre-teen self so I have bought a pass for entry all year. The boy is free until he's 3 and all the NCT girls have passes too, so we are looking forward to a summer of animal fun.


Although not as much fun as the lion had......

The One With The Boys Second Birthday

Two years ago today I was in hospital having the boy!


He didn't come until 7.12 am the next morning but at this precise moment I was in labour. 

For some reason I'm feeling the nostalgia more this year than last. I think I was so consumed with organising the variety of 1st birthday parties that he had I didn't have time to sit back and think.

But this year is much more chilled. As the song goes "We're all going to the zoo tomorrow.." and by all I mean, myself, Hubby, Nanny P and Granddad Atu. Then Lemon Cake Lady and Lemon Cake Boy are coming over for a low key birthday tea with cake, ice cream and balloons. 

But today, all day long, I have been doing that annoying thing you do when you reminisce about an event. You look at your watch and say to anyone who'll listen:


"Oh, this time two years ago......"


I was 14 days overdue and had gone in to hospital be induced. A process I wouldn't recommend to even my worst enemy. I was nervous and edgy about the whole thing and kept praying to go into natural labour but it wasn't to be. It probably wasn't helped by events leading up to my induction.


Oscar had recently got into a fight with another cat and as a result he'd had a trip to the vet, was on antibiotics and house arrest for 14 days. He was more "miaowy" than usual and desperate to go out. He wouldn't use his litter box and was quite clearly in some need to go to the loo. 


Neither Hubby nor I could sleep the night before the dreaded appointment with the pessary. Oscar's noise and the fraught situation had kept us awake all night.. Finally we could take it no longer and at 5 am I remember sobbing as Hubby was on his hands and knees, scrabbling in the litter box trying to demonstrate to Oscar how to use it. 


I have never been so happy to see a cat poo in my life!


However the damage was done and although Oscar was now quiet and content we never got back to sleep. The hospital wanted us there at 8 am so that was that.


The first pessary didn't work it's magic, even after extensive strolls around the scenic route that is our local hospital car park. At 5.30 pm the midwife had another go. So invasive was this internal examination my body went into shock and I shook from head to toe like some mad woman. By 7.30 pm I was having contractions but the whole of my left side was in terrible pain and I asked for gas and air to help me through it. The canister was duly bought but no midwife had time to examine me. Hubby was timing the contractions at every 12 minutes but the left side of my back and hips was now almost totally immobile. 


I was offered pethadine but still no examination. I declined. The gas and air was  making me trip to the point that I apparently told Hubby I could see bunnies hopping over bright green grass in front of me.


A different midwife came to see me. The third I'd had since I arrived. It was 8.30 pm. 12 hours since the first pessary went in and Hubby and I hadn't slept a wink now for 36 hours


"You shouldn't really have gas and air" she said "You're not in active labour yet"


"Well my contractions are every 10 minutes now and to be fair how do you know I'm not in active labour. No one has looked at my fanny for 3 hours!"


Good point well made!


"Oh, you're 6 cms dilated. You'd better come into a delivery room!"


And the rest, as they say is history. 


Actually the rest was a bloody nightmare but I'll leave that for another day.


So as I sit here with a glass of very pleasant red, I have to pinch myself that we have a two year old boy who has totally changed our world and made it brighter and more challenging. He's the funniest, most intriguing, cheekiest little man I've ever met and we love him more than anything in the whole world. 


I also have to pinch my left buttock on occasions as I've now got sciatica in it but who cares.


He's worth it.....


Happy 2nd Birthday to the boy!