For Christmas, Grandmommy and Granddaddy gave me a couple of Raffi CDs. We’re lucky because we haven’t scratched them yet. I’m sure we will though…oh well. But I’m getting myself all distracted. On one of the CDs, Raffi sings a song about going to the zoo. Guess what? Today, the song came true for Daddy and me when we went to the National Zoo!

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there is a new section in my sidebar at the right. It’s called Hear Me Chirp and it is the most recent posts from my Twitter feed. I’m quite proud of myself, I got a Twitter account before my dad did. (In fact, I still don’t think he has one yet!) Anyhow, I’ll start out the account of my day with a recap of all my tweets.

Thinking back over the day, what my comments don’t really capture is how much glee bubbled up in me. For example, usually when I go for a walk with Mommy or Daddy, we always need to be careful because cars might be coming. At the zoo, the place to walk is twice as big as a road AND there are no cars! I could walk wherever I wanted to…almost.

My day at the zoo is all over now, but if you want to remember me and all the fun I had, press the play button below and sing along!

Mummy’s takin’ us to the zoo tomorrow,

Zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow.

Mummy’s takin’ us to the zoo tomorrow

We can stay all day!

Chorus:

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo

How about you, you, you?

You can come too, too, too

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Look at all the monkeys swingin’ in the trees,

Swingin’ in the trees, swingin’ in the trees,

Look at all the monkeys swingin’ in the trees,

We can stay all day!

[chorus]

Look at all the crocodiles swimmin’ in the water,

Swimmin’ in the water, swimmin’ in the water,

Look at all the crocodiles swimmin’ in the water,

We can stay all day!

[chorus]

Yes, Mummy’s takin’ us to the zoo tomorrow,

Zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow,

Mommy’s takin’ us to the zoo tomorrow

And we can stay all day.

[chorus]

[chorus]

© 1961 Cherry Lane Music Co. ASCAP

I think that as a little boy like me grows up, things change an awful lot around him. Sometimes the changes are nice, sometimes they aren’t that good, and sometimes they’re a little bit of both. I’m going to tell you a little story. Then you can tell me what kind of a change you think I had.

A few weeks after I got back from Russia last year, Mommy, Daddy, and I walked all over the neighborhood and collected things from people. I got really good at putting the things into my pumpkin basket (the bag I’m holding in the picture is what we’re going to talk about today). Mommy and Daddy ate most of the things that I got, but I got to play with almost all of them.

My toy pretzels lost their shake

What you see in the picture here was one of my favorite toys to play with. I squished it and it crinkled. I shook it and it and it rattled. I dropped it and it fell. All of this noise was amazing!

Well, today at snack time, Daddy got it out. Even though it had been a long time since I last played with it, I remembered what to do. I grinned as I shook the bag. Then Daddy took the bag from me and opened it. How could he? Didn’t he know that was my special toy? But at the same time, I was also excited to see what was inside. I helped dump the bag out and inside were little round tasty things. Along with some tasty peanuts, Daddy and I devoured my Halloween pretzels.

Yum! Who could have ever guessed that my rattling bag would also be so tasty? Daddy showed me how to hold the little pretzel pumpkins that weren’t broken yet and look through them. In between mouthfuls, we peered at each other through our pumpkins until they were all gone.

Now that my story is finished, what do you think? Was this change good, bad, or a little bit of both? Why do you think so?

There is something super cool that happens inside my belly when I drop a pebble or twig into the water. If I’m pretty far away from the water, there are the ripples and the time spent waiting for it to splash. If I’m down right on the bank, there’s the trickling sound and squishy stuff under my boots. All of that is nice, but there is something much more that comes over me when I kerplunk things in the water.

Today instead of being with Mommy like usual, Daddy stayed with me all day. I think he said something about her going to work, but I don’t know what that means. I guess it can’t be all that bad though, cause Mommy was pretty happy when she said goodnight to me last night.

Daddy and I went for a walk over the hills and far away (just like the little ducks!). When we got close to one of the parks that we hardly ever go to, I saw a green tennis ball on the ground. Naturally, I started telling Daddy to go and get it for me (Uhh, uhh, uhh [point finger at ball]). He did and I rolled it around on the tray of my stroller until we got to the park.

Sometimes I play a game with the person pushing my stroller. S/he give me my water, I drink it, then I give the cup back to him/her. I see a rock I like, s/he gives it to me, I play with it, then I give it back. I can repeat this many times right after each other, or not. It all depends on my mood.

As we finished our great playtime at the park, and, of course, some quality stone-throwing, a lightbulb came on in my head (lampa! lampa!): if I throw rocks in the water, and I have a soft furry green ‘rock’ in my hands, why shouldn’t I throw it? So throw it I did.

Remember at the beginning I said we went over the hills and far away? Well there were some really big hills. And I found that I didn’t need to throw my tennis ball at all. All I needed to do was drop it. This game was even better than the normal pass back and forth game. Daddy had to run really fast to get the ball and I went bumpity-bumpity in the stroller while he chased it. Whee!

Recently, I’ve been learning how to let go of things when I try to throw them. It’s hard work you know. My hand just doesn’t want to let a perfectly good stone at the creek or bouncy ball at home slip away. I am getting better though. In fact, I think I’m a professional ball thrower after today.

If you’re ever in the neighborhood and want to have some real fun that’ll make your insides tingle just like mine do, bring a tennis ball and come play with me. Actually, you don’t even need to bring a tennis ball…I find them on walks all the time. See you soon!

A week and a half ago I displayed the first computer drawing I made. I don’t think it is fair for you to judge me solely on that pixelated scribble scrabble. So today we’re going to look at an original drawing (crayon on scrap paper) that has been many months in the making.

Before I got big crayons for Christmas…before I heisted two little crayons from the Olive Garden…yes, way before any of that, Mommy and I would take pens or pencils and make beautiful masterpieces together. Believe it or not, this subtle montage dates from that era. It is hard to see the pen underneath everything, but those non-crayon strokes form the skeleton that holds the rest of the drawing together. Most of what you are looking at is, of course, from the crayons I just mentioned. And from what I can remember, this paper was actually the first one I used my crayons on.

This morning a great calamity befell this limited edition piece of art — I stepped on it. Stepping alone is not that bad, but when the step is combined with a turn, a hole is made. Mommy was really sad when it happened. I tried to make her feel better, but she was unconsolable. Look on the bright side, Mommy, yesterday our artwork was just an ordinary collection of colors and shapes. Today it is holey! It takes a special paper to achieve that status.

Forty-five sheets of scrap paper, four envelopes, and one piece of wrapping paper later…this is where I began my career as an artist. Someday, it will be worth a lot of money, but who cares? I had fun making it, looking at it, and even stepping on it. What more could a sheet want?

The front

The back