On the Mend

Vivian fell ill recently.  It was not fun.  We spent several days doing nothing while she tried to recover.  Neither of us enjoyed it.  However, she finally seems to be better, and I'm so grateful to have my healthy, happy baby again.  Thankfully, she's recovered just as we've hit an unusual streak of warm weather.  I decided that we could both use a day outside after being cooped up indoors so much for the last little bit.  While Justin was at work on Thursday we decided to go check out Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  Brianna and her roommate came down from Logan and met us there.

So the aviary...there are a lot of birds.  Lots of birds.  I liked it, and it was great to be back outside, but it wasn't the most interesting place I've ever visited.  Vivian similarly seemed far more interested in being all cute and smiley for Brianna than looking at the birds.  Although, she showed a passing interest in the ducks and the peacocks that wander around the aviary.  She also looked at me inquisitively at the Macaw exhibit, every time one of the parrots squawked.  Pretty sure she thought that noise was me.  What does that say about the way I choose to communicate with my child?

The peacock was hands down still the prettiest bird there.

Today was Justin's day off, and again the weather was far warmer than it should be for mid-February, so we decided to spend the afternoon at Hogle Zoo.  I was wondering whether or not Vivian would have any more interest in the zoo animals than she had taken in the birds.  Initially it seemed like she was just going to spend the day staring at other small children and smiling for her dad...and then she spotted the elephants that we had been trying to draw her attention to for several minutes.  Her little face assumed a look of complete astonishment.  We witnessed a similar reaction at several other exhibits, and then she seemed to get the hang of looking for the animal whenever we shoved her up to a glass window and ordered her to "look Vivian!"  She also greeted the animals with her little growls.  Again, what does this say about how we communicate around here? 

What follows here is just a shameless series of photos of my kid staring a various animals.  Because, I think it's cute, and this is my blog.

Vivian and some sort of lynx

Vivian captivated by a tropical bird fluttering around overhead.

Vivian watching a huge turtle eating.

Vivian and a wallaby

Vivian and a bat-eared fox 

Vivian and a skunk

Vivian and her dad

Vivian and a porcupine

Vivian and some kind of little rodent

Vivian and a cat of some sort

Vivian and some monkeys

 It seems like she really loved the zoo, and I'm glad we took the time to take her there.  We stopped at the "This is the Place" Monument across the street.  I had never been before, and it was quite interesting.

After that we headed home, and we're hoping to enjoy the warm weather again tomorrow before the temperatures start dropping back into a more normal range for this time of year.