The Land of Fours and Dinosaurs

Some how, some way... Cutler is four.

His year as a 3-year-old opened up a whole new window into his little soul. For instance, we learned that he is a rule follower. Structure and routine put him in his happy place. He embarrasses easily. He's on the quiet side... until he knows you. He thinks about everything. He wants to know how everything works. (Bikes are inspected before ridden.) He likes to be the line leader. And strong-willed episodes will appear out of nowhere.

I have a feeling we'll be learning even more as we enter the Land of Fours.

So far this new year has us inundated with trains, dinosaurs and Spiderman. But if we've learned anything, it's this: that will change with the next new commercial that pops up on Nick Jr..

I've long been wanting to take the boys to the zoo. And lucky for us, the Dallas Zoo was hosting a Giants of the Jurassic exhibit. What better way to bring in Cutler's 4th birthday?

So here we are, about to embark on our adventure.



Which, I'll have you know, was no easy embarkation. Wagon, check. Stroller, check. Packed lunches for 4 kids and 3 adults, check. Enough water, juice and snacks for the 7 of us, check. Diapers for the baby, check. Sunscreen, check. And after all that business, let's pose for a group picture...

Or not, if your names are Cutler and Crew.

First things first. We decided to follow the orange claw prints and hit the dinosaurs straight away. And we made it just in time for a puppet show. Harmless, right? Except that these puppets were so lifelike, they had 3 of the 4 kids clinging to an adult (or hiding behind a hat). If you're curious, Crew was the 4th un-phased child. I guess when you're 22 months, you have no fear.

And then it was time to go see the actual dinosaurs. Which were large. And lifelike. And motorized... so they moved and made sounds. This resulted in all giving each dinosaur we passed a wide berth. This was the point I was questioning my parental wisdom. Was I invoking adventure or trauma? Say what you will about me, but we decided to push through.

One brave soul agreed to pose with the first dinosaur.

His mother later noted that the motion he's making with his left hand is what he does when he's nervous. Aunt of the year, right here.

They slowly got braver. Or indifferent, should you be Crew Jones.

Cutler didn't like the scary sounds of the dinosaurs. I guess if you can't hear 'em, you can't fear 'em.

Whatever works, right?

And then there's Crew. I ain't scured.

 

So what else did we do?

Well, we rode a train that showed us more dinosaurs. There's a pic of that on someone's camera. Just not mine. And quite frankly, I'm impressed that we had any pics at all. Because it was hot... no time to dilly and pose, right? And 4 kids are BUSY. Can't pull the camera out when you're constantly taking tabs on the striped, yellow and orange shirts.

We saw other animals too. Like alligators and snakes and koalas and tigers and gorillas (correction, gorilla bobo-cracks) and giraffes.

(The dinosaurs ended up being the favorite. Once the fear subsided. Perhaps if we hadn't wrecked them with the puppet show, all would've been well much earlier.)

We tried to drink the droplets from the misters.

We stopped for a dippin' dots break.
But only after we had lunch.

All in all, it was a great day.

So, welcome to the land of fours, Cut-man. Whaddya say we rock this next year? Because I will love you to the moon and back as long as God allows me to have you.