Boy-child had a curriculum day today. Normally I would curse that it was a student free day on a Friday, a day that I would normally ‘get stuff done’. Unlike me of late, I actually planned ahead and got all domestic yesterday so that I could enjoy the nothingness of a kid day. (I was kinda proud of my planning to chill.)
Anyway it was a great opportunity for surprises, to go out and have fun, despite the cold, wet and windy weather. First stop the zoo. As usual we had a blast, but I have already written about that at SuperRelish. What I didn’t write about there was my *tear* experience in the reptile house.
We had already done a lap around the house and had seen all of the reptiles but I noticed a small crowd gathering around the star tortoise enclosure. Naturally I had to see what it was all about. The largest of the star tortoises had fallen into their water-hole and was on her back and almost totally submerged. The crowd were all trying to work out what should be done, “Will it drown?”, “Do we need to find a keeper?” and “Is it dead?” Then to the rescue came a much smaller star tortoise. She plodded down into the water-hole and stood there allowing the larger tortoise to push against her, to flip back the right way. It was beautiful. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief and cheered. It was a great fuzzy start to a great day.
Then, after 5 hours at the zoo, it was time to go home and to try and warm up. Knowing man-child wouldn’t be home, we decided on an early dinner and a movie. We made tacos (kid’s choice) and watched High School Musical 2, a movie that the kids love and that I am more than happy to sit and watch.
The three of us were all snuggled together on one couch, with boy-child on my lap. I’m sure that everyone knows the movie or its story, or a story like it, but when Gabriella was telling Troy that she has ‘Gotta Go My Own Way’, boy-child exclaimed that he didn’t like this part of the movie. Of course I wanted to know why he wouldn’t like a specific part of one of his favourite movies. He told me that he didn’t want Gabriella to go away, that it made him sad that she would walk away. It almost broke my heart to hear my little boy, my 6 year old explain to me how it is important to listen to each other and to help each other not just to walk away. My beautiful little boy, who spent the day running wild at the zoo, playing sword fights and climbing trees, is also kind and considerate and didn’t want to see movie characters so upset because it made him sad too. I am so proud (and also teary).
