Zoo

Today was Madeline's first trip to the zoo! She didn't really seem to care that she was at the zoo (and we realized that even if she had, the exoticism would be somewhat lost -- I think she's now seen a zebra before she's seen a horse), but it was plenty fun for us.

This morning, Madeline wore her intrepid face, so we knew she'd be up for adventure.

We tested the wrap to make sure she hadn't outgrown the cradle hold (the wrap can be manipulated in other ways when she has full head control, but for now it's just the cradle) -- she seems to have gone up another diaper size, suggesting that she's now over twelve pounds.

The wrap still worked like a charm, and Madeline enjoyed its vantage, investigating everything from my face to our apartment's light fixtures.

So then we went to the zoo.

Madeline was most engaged early on when we visited the giraffes in their enclosure. Perhaps she was intrigued that by the parent-child pair.

But after the giraffes, she mostly slept. She missed the penguins.

She didn't look down at the crazy-faced miniature donkey.

She paid no mind to the flaunting flamingo.

She also missed moon bears making out and an unusually active snow leopard. When we paused to try for a picture of the red pandas, though, she woke up and shouted. As soon as we'd passed the pandas, she settled back down and allowed us to enjoy the red wolves and bison.

When we returned home, Madeline was all smiles.

She's also been very active. She now spends a lot of time pushing off of us with her legs. We've taken this as a sign and have indulged her inclination to use her legs by placing her upright and supporting her only as much as she wants. Most of the time she wants to work those legs 'til they wobble. When she doesn't, she's not shy about pulling them up and reclaiming a seat on one of our laps.

Today, she began to display the walking reflex clearly. Put her feet on the ground, and she'll move one in front of another. Or sometimes on top of another. These things take time and work to develop.

But they're definitely beginning to develop.

If only her body would cooperate, she'd almost certainly skip right past crawling and just start toddling around the apartment today.