Preschool Adventures

Jill and I headed to Roger Williams Zoo yesterday for the Preschool Adventures program about giraffes, one of Jill’s favorites. Jill walked confidently into the classroom for the first time and approached the Tupperware container filled with plastic animals. She was one of the youngest in the group of 8-10 kids but you wouldn’t really know it. As “Miss Jen” started the class, Jill stayed extra close to me, sitting in my lap even though she had her own piece of carpet in front of mine. Jill listened intently and raised her hand to answer questions. For the most part she just repeated whatever answer was just called out, but still, she participated. She walked to the front of the classroom twice; once to place a felt wild dog on the board designed as a savanna and a second time to show where a giraffe may live among the other animals.

As we “made observations” about the giraffe, Jill interrupted Miss Jen and every other kid patiently waiting with their hand raised to yell out, “My Daddy’s tall and has a super long neck!” hahaha Classic.

Moments later she whispered that it was time to go potty. Impressive, Jill. So we snuck to the back of the classroom. Apparently there was no need to sneak because as Jill left the bathroom she yelled, “I went potty!!” so the whole room would know anyway. At least she’s confident. Hahaha another classic from yesterday’s trip to the zoo.

After the program, we met Jess and Guy and Liz and Lily by the kangaroos. Jill was so excited to see her buddies! I didn’t tell her ahead of time so it was quite the surprise. She took off with Lily’s stroller. Thankfully Lily was not inside. The kids enjoyed seeing the camels, bears and cranes but the real excitement was for the playground. Jill couldn’t stop squealing, yelling and jumping up and down. After 3 hours at the zoo, I was sure Jill would pass out on the car ride home. She stuffed her face with almost every snack I packed – pasta, grapes, goldfish and peanut butter crackers all washed down with a juice box. And didn’t pass out. She inhaled her new favorite snack – a vanilla yogurt cup with multi-colored mini M&Ms – when we got home and didn’t pass out. She didn’t nap at all. After 3 hours at the zoo. Are you kidding me? One unsuccessful hour later, I gave up  putting her down for a nap and we went to the playground. It was a great way to spend a vacation day, even without the nap!

#countryliving