The Sacramento Zoo

We have been meaning to take Sam to the zoo for awhile now. So, when my sister asked us if we wanted to go this week I jumped at the chance. This is Sammy's first time at the zoo. He loves animals and knows many animal sounds. Instead of saying the animal name he will make the noise that the particular animal makes. Fortunately, it wasn't a blazin' hot day like many of the Sacramento days have been recently.

I liked that it wasn't too crowded. I disliked that there weren't very many animals to see and most of the time it seemed like they were hiding. There was also a small carousel and I was not going to attempt to take hm on it because in the past he has wanted to go on it but then freaked out and cried to get off. The first time he went on a carousel was a month ago and we were at the mall with my cousin Krissy and her daughter Autumn. I tried to put him up on an animal and he threw a fit.He was not havin' it! So, we got off and watched from the sidelines while Autumn went round-and-round. Of course, wouldn't you know it, Sammy became upset because once seeing how much fun she was having he wanted to go on too. At first, I told him no because I did not want to have him decide that he wanted to get off immediately once I tried to put him on one of the animals.Oh, but it was breaking my heart to watch him while he sadly watched Autumn have fun. We tried again. I believe it was Krissy who suggested we just sit in one of the seats on the carousel instead of on one of those animals that go up and down.The seat stays stationary. Sam was fine with the seat and was happy.That was my previous experience with the carousel and now at the zoo I did not want to deal with my tantrumming child on the carousel once again. But, I could see Sammy really wanted to try it. This time, he allowed me to put him on one of the animals and the carousel began. Around and around, up and down. He started to cry and the ride stopped. We chose the stationary seat and he was fine the rest of the ride. I guess he's taking small baby steps toward riding the whole carousel on an animal. I just don't want him to be afraid to try things that may seem scary or have been scary in the past. That has been one of my biggest frustrations and hangups in life -- I let myself be held back by fear! I don't want that for my children.