See this?

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It’s the Rascal…. Standing at the sidelines of the zoo waterpark while his sister goes MAD running here-there-everywhere….

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I swear, I’ve never seen her MOVE that fast!

Back to Rascal…. It’s great that he’s in the 10th percentile for height (i.e., 90% of 2-year-olds are taller than Rascal) because I don’t have to worry SO much about sunscreen. At least on those fair little legs. Ahem. Those are SHORTS. He’s such a stud….

I’m obviously not a huge fan of the ZOO. The whole concept disturbs me to NO end. When I go there, I can’t help but see myself in the animals’ place living their lives with crowds of grubby popsicle- and pizza-guzzling humans whining things like “The gorilla’s aren’t doing anything! They’re just sitting there!” WAH.” “WAH.” “WAH.” Gorilla’s are too damn intelligent to be in captivity. Dammit. Yes, it disturbs me. And, still, I paid for a year’s pass. Hypocrite? I think not. The zoo’s going to be there whether I pay for it or not. But, if I DON’T pay, who suffers? THE ANIMALS. (And, thank goodness, the Toronto Zoo is famously good to its animals.) So, I pay, and I GO. Why do I go? Because I teach my children to enjoy the animals, to learn about them, respectfully, with the knowledge that these animals are sacrificing a lot so that the peeps can gawk at them.

I didn’t even have to teach my children much, though, it seems. Because a certain little MONKEY made me beyond proud as early on during our visit as the Jaguar exhibit.

“THANK YOU, JAGUAR!” My little Monkey yelled. Again, and again, she yelled, “THANK YOU, JAGUAR!”

“Why are you thanking the Jaguar, Monkey?” I asked.

“Because he’s letting us look at him.”

Fahklempt! She is, indeed, her mother’s daughter. Born with a DEEP respect and EMPATHY for animals.

And…, SPEAKING OF BIRTH (and Segues of the Year AWARDS….), guess why I haven’t blogged in a couple of days…? Or, have you seen my tweets? Like, the tweets in which I gave pretty much the PLAY by PLAY of my sister GIVING BIRTH?

Yes, Cheaty’s got a new NEPHEW! Woo-Hooo!

That’s two boys for my sister. Two beautiful, healthy boys for my sister. Thank God.

And I was there when it all went down! I’ve never actually HEARD anyone giving birth before. And I got to stand just outside the room for this one. I HEARD EVERY PEEP and GRUNT and TEAR and SQUEAL and CLANG and WAHHHHH! Ahh, the newborn WAHHHH….

We are celebrating!

WHICH brings me ALL the way back to the beginning of this post. (And I. Am. The Segue QUEEN today.) See that? That picture of the DARLING little Rascal in oversized shorts? Well, he’s no longer the youngest in our brood. Strange. My little guy’s getting BIG.

But, the Monkey? She’s still the only girl. It’sgrandma’s special little girl.

Love!

xo Haley-O

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