Fear of the Aardvark

The fear was that they would never wake up. ION, my phone is not made for
night photography.

On Saturday, we took Arya to Colchester for one of the zoo's late-opening Starlight Safari days, with the intention of seeing the aardvarks up and about. She has seen them before, but she was just with Mummy at the time and was apparently beside herself because she knows I like the aardvarks(1).

So, the day started well. I had to go to physio for my back, and when Daddy Andrew tried to bring Arya into Ely on the train for ballet, the train was cancelled. Thankfully, they were offered a lift by a kind fellow traveler(2), and despite Andrew misremembering the start time, we got Arya into ballet just a little late, after I ran into them on my way out of Boots with a new box of sweet, sweet co-codamol. Then tea cup ride, bus, and Gymbobs, where Arya had a good run around waiting for the session to start and managed to apparently misplace Andrew.

Me: Arya, where's Daddy Andrew?
Arya: He went outside.
Me: Yes, but he hasn't come back.
Arya: I didn't magically make him to be dead.
Me: Wow. That's dark. And oddly specific.

New dress.

After Gymbobs we changed her into her new dress (which she chose herself) and Mummy came and picked us up, fresh and bright from her five or six hours sleep in the preceding 72 hours. There then followed a long drive, a minor meltdown over the wrong coat, and it looked like we were going to have a properly horrible day. Hanna split off to make some enquiries at the office regarding pass renewal, and we didn't really make good plans to meet up again.

We saw some lemurs and leopards, and some coati being hella adorbs in the amphitheatre, and checked on the currently somnolent aardvarks. Andrew went to find Hanna, leaving me with all the bags while Arya played in one of the playgrounds. I heard them announce a late giraffe feeding, but before I could collect Arya, I saw her trip and fall, and when I got to her she was bleeding from the mouth.

Worst. Dad. Ever.

Found a member of staff who got us an ice pack and some towels, then I sat Arya down with a soothing ice cream while I flailed to contact Hanna and Andrew. Good news, the bleeding stopped quickly and helped her to calm down enough to stop crying; poor thing was in a right state, understandably enough. Bad news, no signal at all. Fortunately, I spotted Andrew and was able to flag him down and he and Hanna came over, having been looking for us at the giraffe feeding.

Arya complained of an owy tummy and we got a proper first aider in, and considered the possibilities that walk in centres and A&E presented, but ultimately decided that the tummy was probably a result of the upset and not a cause, so dragging her out pre-Aardvark would be a retrograde step. Not that this stopped us worrying, and wondering if each time she got tired and floppy she wasn't lapsing into a set of symptoms that the doctors would note with the shorthand 'terrible parents.'

But she seemed lively enough, and took me to see the bears, including an extended rendition of 'we're going on a poo hunt,' a variation introduced in the TV adaptation of We're Going on a Bear Hunt, so thanks for that, Channel 4.

Next, we went to catch the little train. The green lighting in the waiting area made us look green. "We're turning green!" I cried, showing Arya my hand. "It's just the green lights," she assured me sagely.

The train took us past the oddly abandoned wolf habitat, as well as past the jackals and hunting dogs, to the lemur encounter. Arya didn't fancy walking with lemurs, so we sat and watched the youngsters being adorable and ring-tailed. I got out to stretch my back, and Arya, bless her,was really worried the train would pull away without me. On the way back, all three wolves were out for the first time in three days. My own theory is that they just got Netflix and had been binge watching Marvel series and Stranger Things, and had emerged because they'd got two episodes into Iron Fist and needed some air.

It was getting late, so we tried the aardvarks again - still asleep - before getting some dinner. With Arya quite determined to see active aardvarks, we checked in on them - still asleep - then stayed for the torchlit sealion feed, and Arya named all of the sealions while we waited(3). The sealions were basically circling and occasionally harmonising with the Jean Michelle Jarre - for whatever reason, the sealions always have music, and being Patagonian instead of California sealions they don't so much bark as do a short version of that bass vocalisation that the Ur-ra do in The Dark Crystal.

I tried to get a shot of Arya and the Aardvarks, but they ducked past her and
out of shot.

Finally, we went back to the Aardvarks and they were up and about; well, two of them, at least. Anyway, that was rewarding, and even overrode Arya's pressing need to avail herself of the smell-o-rama hatch again.

And then we went home, by way of the dub-step giraffe, a quick chivvy through the gift shop, a tantrum over the Tinkerbellness of her nappies and a quick stop to buy Calpol (and replacement nappies, because life's too short.)

Sunday was an idle day, unsurprisingly.

(1) Before she had the word 'aardvark' down, they were 'the amamals that Daddy likes.'
(2) In the commuting, rather than the espionage sense.
(3) Skye, Marshall, James, Tom and whoever the other one was.

Some Days are Better than Others

Selfie mirroring; so disconcerting.

It's been a decidedly mixed weekend, for reasons which have less to do with the family than with events surrounding them. Money was a thing, as it so often is, but we're basically hitting rock bottom in that regard now; from hereon out, things ought to be on the up. Moreover, Hanna's Gran passed on Thursday night, which of course cast a pall over the weekend. As a result, Hanna and I were both off our game and seriously down on spoons from the get go.

Still and all, we had plans and Arya was looking forward to the giraffes. Hanna was in Cambridge for an Occy Health appointment at Addenbrooke's, so she drove us both back to Ipswich in the afternoon and we picked up Arya from nursery to take her to a birthday party at the local softplay (well, actually one in town; there is one just down the road.) That was when I found out that I had no money, and Andrew found out that it you give kids an inch they'll take a mile. He made them laugh as he handed out straws and suddenly they thought everything he did was hilarious and started proposing wonderful plans to superglue roasted, endangered animals to his face(1). Arya asked me to sit with her, I think because she was upset at people laughing at Daddy Andrew, but that settled down and she had a good time. The venue were also good about getting her a gluten free meal that wasn't horrible.

We went home after that, and I got her into bed and asleep before we had our dinner. All in all she had a pretty short sleep, I think, and was tired the next morning when I realise no-one else was getting up and went to kickstart things with tea. That was about nine and I'd spent probably a couple of hours hiding in the living room so as not to disturb anyone, while they were awake and active in their own rooms (or in Mummy's, in Arya's case, having gone through at about three.) The upshot of all this was that we didn't get off for the zoo quite as early as we'd planned, and arrived at about midday; just in time for a dash to the giraffe feeding encounter, where Arya sat on my shoulders and bent down to kiss the top of my head, like I do to her sometimes.

Train selfie!

We got to go on the little train that hasn't been running the last few times, and saw the wolves and the hunting dogs, who were pretty rad. We also got to listen to the love story of a lonely swan, as it was the heel end of their Valentine event. We had lunch, looked at the aardvarks (Arya was mightily taken with the aardvarks, who were all bundled up in a snuggle pile,) and went to see the pygmy hippos, including their new baby who shares a birthday with my Dad. Arya was also very taken with the ants.

"I think we've packed everything..."

We hit the penguins and sealions in time for their encounter events. The sealions were dead impressive, and Arya loved seeing them in the underwater tunnel. Unfortunately, she ran off to go back through when I asked her to stay with me, so we had words about that. By that point it was getting late, and Arya wasn't able to feed the baby goats, although she did get to pet them.

On the way out, I took Arya to the toilet. She said she didn't need to go, but with the trip ahead I asked her to sit on the toilet for a count of four, and she did a wee. Unfortunately, she then decided to deny that she had done so, insisting that she hadn't needed to go. Thankfully, when we got home and I asked if she'd done a wee she said yes, then said, unprompted: "I'm sorry I lied to you." All was thus forgiven. We watched Frozen Fever three times, and then she had beans and sausages while we had chicken korma. Getting her to sleep was tougher this time; she was probably still jazzed from the day. I slept in the back room this time, and when she woke up a bit after five I brought her in with me and we snuggled down for a few more hours.

Sunday was pretty quiet and idle. Arya and Mummy had a bit of bonding over World of Warcraft, co-controlling Hanna's hunter as they got turned into a werewolf; or as Arya correctly identified it, Worgen. The co-controlling slowed things down, but only got them killed once or twice, so I say go Arya.

We did take Arya out for a walk and a play in the park while Mummy was shopping. She declined the zipline, but was happy to walk back across Martlesham Heath proper, swinging a stick and singing: "We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one!" Then she spotted the bear and we had to run. A bit later she was relating the event to us, by explaining: "We had to run from the bear, and Daddy Andrew and Daddy Luke didn't run very well; only I did." I suggested that she didn't need to outrun the bear, just her Daddies, and I'm glad to say she had no idea what I was saying.

Teamwork.

We had a quiet day otherwise. Aside from that one incident, she was really good about using the toilet. On one occasion, she actually went off and used the toilet on her own, pretty much a first at home. After dinner, she came with Hanna to take me to the station, although she really wanted to wave at me on the train and there were tears as I left.

Soon, however, we will live together, and that of course means that the form of this blog is going to change(2). I don't know if I'll aim for daily updates, or just short entries on notable stuff and a roundup every week, but it won't be one big entry for the weekend any more.

(1) I don't know why. Better than the live bear they originally had in mind, I suppose.
(2) An entirely acceptable inconvenience.