Monday at the Zoo

We've had spring-like weather all week.  Yesterday, Elena and I got to the zoo before it opened--just the two of us and one other 3-year-old with her grandmother.  For the first couple of hours, we practically had the zoo to ourselves.

She looked long at the snakes, the turtles, the birds, the zebras--pronouncing every one "beautiful."

The ostriches, the rhino, the crocodile, the flamingos--she loves them all. When she sees one of anything, she always looks to see if it has a friend or a daddy or a baby nearby.

There were two alligators, but only one crocodile.

"Why he doesn't have a friend in there?" she asked.

When we got home, we had a party on the porch (water and cheese and banana slices) and built a Lego zoo-pen for our imagined animals.

"I want to hope you," she said (hope her word for help) "Because you're my best friend and I love you so much."

As I was changing her clothes, she told me: "I'm a big girl and I don't wear diapers anymore....I'm three because I had a birthday party and a piñata.  AND my friends sang me Happy Birthday."

"You have a lot of good friends, don't you?"

"Thank you!" she said.