Put Me In The Zoo September 4, 2012

In honor of Trent’s first trip to the zoo, I present to you his favorite zoo-themed book: Put Me In The Zoo by Robert Lopshire (a Dr. Seuss Bright and Early board book).

I will go into the zoo.  I want to see it.  Yes, I do.

We do not want you in the zoo.  Out you go!  Out!  Out with you!

Why did the put me out this way?  I should be in.  I want to stay.

Just wait and see what I can do.  Look!  Now all his spots are blue!

And now his spots are orange!  Say!  He looks very good that way.

Now look at this!  What do you see?  Spots as green as green can be!

Violet spots!  Say!  You are good!  Do more!  Do more!  We wish you would.

I can do more.  Look!  This is new.  Blue orange, green, and violet too.

Oh!  They would put me in the zoo, if they could see what I can do.

We like all the things you do.  We like your spots, we like you, too.

But with all the things that you can do, the circus is the place for you!

Yes!  This is where I want to be!  The circus is the place for me!

Husband & Wife

We became friends, began dating, fell in love, got married.

For a year, we were Husband & Wife.  Together we enjoyed quiet dinners, random naps, sporadic work schedules, road trips with friends.  (Read about our first 365 Days HERE!)

Then we became Daddy & Mommy.  Whoa, what a change.  Instead of quiet dinners, we aim our efforts towards filling a baby’s belly and trying to minimize the number of Puffs on the floor.  Instead of random naps, we take turns handing off the T-Rex and trading chances at shut-eye.  Instead of sporadic work schedules, we pretty much stick to our days because our priority is a miniature man and not money.  We’ve still managed a road trip with friends, but not without the unavoidable guilt and few-too-many phone calls to check on the wee one.

We sit together, watching the stuff inside our house get spit-up on, dribbled over, dropped, smacked, and distorted.  We smile, we laugh, we make jokes about the nice stuff we used to have—and the nice stuff we may someday acquire many years down the road.

Twenty-some years from now, we’ll sit together in a quiet house surrounded by whatever stuff survives.  The kid(s) will have moved on, reverting us back to Husband & Wife.

My wish for us is that we’ll still know those roles as well as we’ll know how to be Daddy & Mommy.  You’ll still be the undeniably handsome fella carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, with a laugh that makes me laugh and a twinkle in your eye that give me butterflies.  And I’ll still be so ticklish that you’re better off not sitting too close to me, with a stack of magazines I’ll never get through and the ability to fall asleep just about anywhere.

We’ll never again be exactly who we were when we said “I do” two years ago, but we can always and forever choose to say “I do” to loving each other and building our life together.

I do.  I love you.  Happy Anniversary Husband (who just so happens to be an incredible daddy too)!!!