As the primary caregiver for my daughter (aka “mom”), I have to be creative in order to keep her busy everyday all day long.  We sing, dance, read, bathe, eat, clean…you know the routine.  Sometimes it becomes boring, monotonous, and a real drag.  I can tell she’s bored when she starts climbing up on all the furniture, throwing all the books from the shelves, or constantly pulling on my leg to pick her up only to crawl back down two seconds later.  Good stuff.

I get bored too or at least tired of the same four walls.  I can’t say that I ever run out of things to do in the house, but sometimes it’s just good to get out.  One of my favorite outings is a trip to the zoo.  So, that’s where we went yesterday.

The last time we went, she was six months old and slept the whole time.  She’s still too young to fully appreciate it, but this is why it works:

1)  It’s an opportunity to teach and learn.  This is the perfect time to point out:  “lion”, “monkey”, “bat”, and “fish” and repeat in Spanish “leo’n”, “mono”, “palo”, and “pescado” or “red”, “blue”, and “green”or “meow”, “baaa”, and “mooooo”.  Instead of reading her book about farm animals, she can actually see them up close.

2)  Baby will sleep good later.  She was so worn out afterward, that when she went to bed at 8 pm, she didn’t get up until 10:30 this morning.  Awesome!

3 )  It’s an opportunity to bond with another mother.  I suppose we could have gone to the zoo by ourselves, but why not share this time with another parent who’s eager to get out of the house?  This was a great time to catch up with my friend, Vanezza, whose two children enjoyed themselves as well.  We talked and laughed about the “joys” of motherhood and she kept me straight on my Spanish.

4)  You can take more pictures for the scrapbook that everyone is just going to love later.

5)  Hubbie will have a better “what I did today” story than the usual one that consists of diaper-changing, she-just-wouldn’t-stay-still complaints, and accusatory stares because he came home late again after lolly-gagging when you really needed a break.

6)  You can get some exercise while pushing the stroller, carrying baby in your sling, or running behind the child that thinks the gorilla resembles your pet dog.

So, if you’re bored in the house, get out.  Go to the zoo.

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