Little Friends

We went to the zoo with some friends last Saturday, and saw a two-headed camel!

(it really does look like it, doesn't it?)

Its sideshow-freak implications aside, the above pic is notable in that it was practically the only animal photo I took on this zoo excursion. Kate had three little friends to play with, so for me that was the real amusement of the day.

I never get to see her play with other kids because if she's with a group of kids, it's typically because I am elsewhere and she is at day care or in a church nursery. So, it was interesting to see that as "social" as I think she is, she's more or less still into "parallel play"--doing her own thing while other kids do their own thing nearby.

Becca would try to hold her hand, and Kate would brush her off!

All the kids loved the goats in the petting zoo, and Kate and Landon were so cute running alongside each other, doing that toddler thing where they scream as they run. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" 

 The kids took turns riding shotgun in Becca's wagon. When it was Kate's turn, she and Becca stomped their feet on the bottom of the wagon as rapidly as they could. So cute what entertains a toddler!

I love watching Kate interact (even in her rude "don't touch me!' way) with her little friends. My grandmother always used to refer to our "little friends"--whether they were my twenty-something college friends or my mom's middle-aged tennis friends. It's condescending and yet cute. But toddler friends really are little!

Little toddler friends like to jump and run on a giant foam mat...

... and walk on the backs of alligators...

"Watch out, Gator! Me and my little friends will be back, and we're getting bigger all the time!"