Saturday, July 16, 2011

Germ Fest...I Mean - Animal Day

Our neighbor's brother has a farm and we went to see his lambs today before they grow up and aren't lambs any more.  I know Averi looks pretty frightened in this picture, but she's really somewhere between intense excitement, extreme hesitation, and stimulus overload.
I was a mean mom and wouldn't let her touch any of the animals (lambs, cows, chickens, kittens) and I was sanitizing everything in site.  Do you think I'll ever back off on the sanitizer?  Anyways, being out and about really wore Miss Averi out because she fell asleep mid-color on the way home.
Funny note:  We stopped for lunch at a pizza buffet and the owner made a comment about "where's all her hair."  When I absentmindedly responded that "the chemo took care of it" he first laughed because he thought I was joking and then started apologizing profusely and explaining that some babies her age still don't have hair.  I guess MDS is such a part of our lives that I forget it's startling to see a baby with cancer. :)

After resting up, we headed over to the annual Down Syndrome Zoo Day.  It was super hot, even though it was in the evening, but my girls were ready.
We walked around for a while looking at all the animals and then headed over to the party.  Averi wanted to make sure that I pointed out that she and Kaili got their faces painted.
It might seem silly, but sometimes it's refreshing to realize that there are so many other people in a similar boat as you.  It's always so much fun to hang out with other families affected by DS and not have to worry about explaining anything, but rather share your stories with a sense of understanding.
After eating, we headed over to the carousal.  Things started out fine with Dan sitting on a stationary bench with Averi while Kaili and I rode the horses.  Then Dan got adventurous and sat Averi on one of the horses.  Of course she immediately grabbed on to the pole - probably the most germ infested item in the entire zoo.  Since she'd already touched it and she was having so much fun I let her finish the ride, but once it was done I immediately ran to the stroller and doused her in sanitizer.  Yah, that's probably not going to stop any time soon, huh?

She loved riding the horse and kept shaking the pole after the ride stopped, trying to get it to start going again.
To finish off the germ fest - I mean, fun time at the zoo, the zookeepers brought out some animals for us to pet.  Averi really liked the albino snake and decided to pet it for a while.  Don't worry, there was sanitizer for that too. :)
I know it keep saying this, but it was SO nice to be out in the fresh air doing things together as a family again - even if there were germs involved!

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

It looks like she had such a fun time and I just love her cute little smile. I can't believe how much she is growing!