"Monkey clapped its hands!"

On Saturday morning, I went to one of the nearby bases and volunteered at a 5k that Stroller Warriors sponsored. It was nice to be able to go volunteer, and not have to keep an eye out for Evelyn in the big crowd of people that showed up (there were over 200 runners!).

While I was gone for the morning, Dan and Evelyn walked up to the zoo. We live very close to the zoo; it is nice to live within walking distance. However when he said they walked to the zoo, I assumed he meant that he put her in the stroller, and they went like that. Nope. I was wrong. They both walked the 3/4 of a mile to the zoo, up the hill. My mom as well as Dan's dad and step-mom know about the big hill leading up to the zoo. Our little Evelyn conquered that hill, and then walked all the way around the hilly zoo.

She was so excited to tell me all about her zoo trip when I got home. She told me about the hippos, the fraffes (giraffes, though since this zoo trip, she's gotten better with the word and now says gifraff), the Daddy roar (lion), elephants, alligators, horses, and the monkeys.

Dan explained how the male lion was roaring up a storm, and how the chimp had a staring contest with Evelyn, as well as a few of the other kiddos. The chimp sat up next to his tree, and stared at the little kids who were visiting. All of a sudden and without warning he slapped the tree next to him, causing a few of the other kids to scream and run away.

Evelyn's eyes widened and she sllllllowly started to back up, to hide behind Dan's legs. He told me the story, we laughed about it a bit, and then went about our day. Later that night as we were laying with Evelyn as she fell asleep, she had said her prayers and was then talking about random things. She started talking about her zoo trip, and said, "The monkey clapped its hands!" I said yes, the monkey did clap its hands but it was okay.

She said that the "monkey clapped its hands" at least ten to fifteen times, and you could tell it had distressed her for a bit. She was quiet for about five minutes and I thought she was asleep, so I said something to Dan. Evelyn chimed in from her toddler bed, "Monkey clapped its hands!"

In the end, a funny story turned out to be a little sad. We still laughed a bit when she couldn't stop talking about it but it was also sad to know that it had scared her so much. She still mentioned it the night after as well.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we took a girls + kids trip to the mini zoo, where she saw an illustrated sign regarding sticking your fingers in the monkey fingers. So now not only has she been startled by the monkey "clapping its hands", she is concerned about people getting their fingers bit by the little monkeys at the mini zoo. Oh dear. She may not be a monkey lover like I am.