London Zoo again

Last Tuesday we went on a family visit to London Zoo, about 18 months after our first visit.

This time, the Penguin Beach was finished and it turned out to be Lilia's favourite bit of the zoo. In fact, she loved it so much we could hardly drag her away!

It has a round viewing hole on one side under water level, as well as one whole glass side, so you can see the penguins swimming, and we were lucky enough to be there when they fed them so there was lots of diving going on.

I particularly liked the heron which has set up home there - he's obviously worked out there is a plentiful supply of fish! At one point the keeper had to shoo him off and rescue the penguins' lunch!

It was hard to get good pictures, but here are a few.

Lying by the porthole was a popular thing to do, and once we'd seen off the French tourists she had it all to herself. In fact, we had to go back to it after lunch because she loved lying there and watching the water.

We also noticed that the sun shining through the glass enclosure made a rainbow, which was an opportunity for an impromptu science lesson on refraction, as well as a chance to wear a rainbow. Lilia was very pleased with that.



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Her other favourite was the giraffes. But once again we got see just a zebra bottom as it ran inside! Next time we need to go and see them first. Late afternoon doesn't seem to be their best time.

Obviously, no day out is complete without an ice cream, even if it is freezing. Although she didn't object when we eventually took it off her and threw it away because she was turning blue!

And obviously, there is always a point in the day when we need some Daddy time:

There are also loads of new playgrounds at the zoo, and as Lilia's latest 'thing' is climbing, jumping and generally being physical, she loved it. She did need some help getting onto the swinging ropes, but once she was up there she was in her element.

Note the model-style facial expression!


And finally, we went to Pizza Express in Camden for tea (like we did before).

And then Lilia wanted to take some pictures:







To explain, Lilia loves sticking out her tongue and wanted us to do it too!

To finish the day off, we managed to find a puddle:




She really enjoyed herself but did wake up twice that night. First, crying about 'the snakes, the snakes' and second about 'the ants are all over me'. oops. Maybe we won't go to the bug house next time!

Now I am three

Wow, has it really been over a year since I wrote on this? Interesting, now that Lilia can actually talk for herself, it feels all wrong to write it in her voice, so this is Mummy speaking.

What has changed since April last year? It would be easier to say what hasn't! Lilia is a proper child now, no longer a baby. Her toddler tummy is gone, her chubby thighs have thinned, her face has altered, she's even had her first haircut!

She talks non-stop, and her favourite word is 'why?'.

Although as she has now started pre-school at least her teachers can take some of the pressure of answering those questions.

Yes, my little girl has gone to 'school'. And she loves it, enabling me to laugh in the faces of those who'd told me she needed to go to nursery or she wouldn't know how to socialise. All those hours out and about meeting people did the job.

On her first day, as soon as she saw a familiar face she was off. I had to call after her to remind her to say goodbye and Daddy had to drag her out literally kicking and screaming at the end of the day.

Things she can do now:

Get completely dressed all by herself.
Undo buttons (this is only in the last week).
Climb on everything - nothing is safe!
Work almost any bit of technology.
Get a decent score on Angry Birds.
Swim!! (with arm floats. She did two lengths on holiday with Granddad).
Ballet.
Yoga. Her downdog is MEAN.
Thread beads.
Stand on one leg, but only for a millisecond.

Ah, there's probably loads more, it's so hard to keep track.

I hope to post some pictures and more posts. I'll try and keep on top of this a bit more basically, as I know it's annoying not to have updates.

Please post a comment on this post if you are reading, it helps me feel I'm not just writing this into the ether.

xxx