My son is an avid outdoorsman: he refuses to come inside.
He never relents from the heat and humidity, the bugs don’t bother him, and the more dirt to get in his clothes and under his fingernails the better. He loves to stand outside and dig in the mud only to be interrupted by neighbors on walks or cars driving by and yell at them as loudly as possible in toddler gibberish. I know some of you are nodding your head in agreement as the sweat pours down your neck and back as you watch your little ones have the time of their life outside.
My husband is French, and I lean strongly towards my Irish roots while my son is a pure wild thing, in the sweetest toddler way of course. He usually has something to gnash his teeth at, mainly the fact that he is teething or we closed a door he wanted open. He will stomp his feet with the best of them as mom and dad cave to the heat and carry him inside.
While my son is pretty much my husband version 2.0, I will admit I am thankful he doesn’t take after my sensitive skin ways. I will get a sunburn through the window on a long road trip, I just look at a plant wrong and I have a rash, the slightest bit of heat exposure and I start pouring sweat from everywhere (how does one’s kneecaps sweat?!). Thankfully, in all the ways I wish my son and I shared a resemblance to each other I am so grateful he takes after his father’s French genes with his sunkissed olive skin that is immune to a rash, sunburn, and the slightest bit of irritation.
Our daily routine usually consists of a mile or so walk around the neighborhood just after lunch.
Yep, the hottest part of the day is what my son enjoys most (#eyeroll).
It’s almost as if the sun is his best friend and he can’t go anywhere without it. I had to find a happy medium to keep me from dying of a daily heat stroke and keep him happy outside for as long as possible. That’s when another mom friend invited us to the Zoo. This was like a divine appointment from God to deliver the answered prayer I have prayed through all of the Quarantine: how do I keep him happy outside without me dying of a heatstroke?!
All of the Zoo’s paths are shaded, there is stimulation around every corner and plenty of room for him to stomp his feet and gnash his teeth. Just walking up to the Zoo I could tell this would be a winner for us and we have been once a week since our first visit! We brought Gramps (my dad) along on the most recent visit, and in true Lou fashion, he fit right in with the animals squawking and screaming with the best of them. As you veteran moms know already, just because all the conditions are perfect doesn’t mean there aren’t meltdowns. Oh no, just like tigers and elephants and bears, my toddler is just as unpredictable. Between the unpredictability of my toddler tiger and the real tigers, we had so much fun!
If you aren’t ready to venture out in the heat of the wild just yet enjoy the photos from our trip below!
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