Show me a day when the world wasn't new...

Suzannah attends her daycare for a few hours a week during the summers; this is mostly to ensure a smooth transition when I go back to teaching in the fall. It also gives me a few hours to do things that are easier sans toddler and gives her the opportunity to spend time with her buddies. Yesterday, I tagged along on a daycare outing to Northwest Trek, which is basically a wildlife park where you can see all kinds of animals up close in a natural habitat. We had a completely fabulous time; we saw moose and wolves and Bighorn sheep and bison and mountain goats and elk and caribou and LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY! Suzannah really digs the animals these days, and was very excited to name each one as she saw it, although she was equally excited to announce each tree she saw, as well. And even though that meant pointing to about five hundred trees, all of which looked more or less the same, her enthusiasm for discovery just bubbles over.

Also wonderful for me is watching the ways in which Suzannah just thrives in the company of other kids. She's grown up with this little group, and she loves them all (you know, most of the time). It was fun for me to actually watch her play with them all day; I love the way she interacts with them so easily and happily, running around like crazy and laughing. She has a "big sister" of sorts, an older sister of one of the boys; she's in about the fourth grade, I guess, and Suzannah just adores her. She came along yesterday, and when Suzannah started to grow restless on the hour-long tram ride, Maddie just scooped her right up and said, "Hey, Suzannah, look at this!" The change of scenery -- and arms, perhaps -- settled her right down, and she was happy to hang out with her friend. Suzannah also holds her own quite well with the toddler boys, much to her daddy's chagrin. One of them is always trying to hold her hand, which she tolerates, and one of them is just a big old rotten wrecking ball of noise and Suzannah will probably end up marrying him one day, mostly because her father already heartily disapproves of this kid and any attention he might bestow on his little girl. (There's a backstory here involving the little hellion pushing Suzannah down, like, a year ago. Ever since then, Matt's lips visibly curl whenever this kid's name is mentioned. I love that protective side already!) And then there's this wild little kid, I mean he's just always spazzing out all over the place, who ran up to Suzannah with a spray bottle and squirted her right in the face (we brought tons of them along because it was hot yesterday, and very muggy. It proved to be an excellent idea). I suspect Matt might have just picked this kid up by the scruff of the neck and tossed him to the wolves right then and there, but instead of getting upset, Suzannah shrieked with delight and shouted, "AGAIN!" Basically, she handles the rough-and-tumbleness like a champ; it's when someone takes something away from her that she's likely to turn on the angry waterworks.

Anyway, we had a wonderful day. I never pass up an opportunity to go on a field trip with my daughter, even during the school year. Last fall, I played hooky from a day of staff development to go to the pumpkin patch at Remlinger Farms, which was considerably more difficult than yesterday's outing in that I toted Suzannah around in a sling all day long and nearly had a panic attack when we were separated from the group in the middle of the corn maze, which has resulted in my NEVER WANTING TO DO A CORN MAZE EVER AGAIN, I mean I am seriously traumatized by the memory, thank you very much, but that's another entry. Yesterday was a breeze; Suzannah even consented to riding in her stroller on the trails. Normally, she is much too independent for that, but miracles happen.

Matt and I take Suzannah everywhere we go, and for the most part, she fits so easily into our lives (as long as we come prepared with snacks and things to do, of course, and this is not to suggest she's never been a total stinker when we're trying to finish our food at a restaurant), but I think it's so important to take her places where it's really all about her experience, where she doesn't have to integrate herself into an adult's world. In some ways, sure, having a child ages you -- you cross into a different world, where you are the same age as every other parent no matter what year you were born -- but in many other ways, children keep you young. The whole world is new again. No matter how many trees or bears or raccoons I've seen in my life, when my daughter's eyes are wide and shining at the miraculous world, mine are, too.