Monkey Spit

Kate has developed a new bad habit--spitting out her beverage once she has a good mouthful.

It began in the car last week, when she soaked herself and the car seat straps with water. This habit went to a whole new level of unacceptability when she spit out a bunch of milk at a restaurant last night in Louisville, where we were visiting my parents for the weekend. She had two time outs at the restaurant (during one of which, a woman outside told Kate "Are you in time out? You're just too pretty to be sitting out on the concrete. You'll have to remind your mother one day what she did to you.")

After the first time, we were all watching Kate like a hawk with each gulp, making sure she swallowed it. "Kate, we see you..." We stared her down as she sat there with her lips pursed tightly, obviously keeping the mouthful inside as long as it took for us to relax. She gave us sideways glances of mock innocence and then let it rip, soaking her dress and the diaper bag on the floor next to her.

Today, we went to the Louisville Zoo and had a cool behind-the-scenes tour. We got to go with the keepers to the backside of several habitats, seeing the animals' "bedrooms," where they can go out of view from the public and get their food and other care from the keepers.

Kate was excited to see the monkeys, and the first primates we saw were the orangutans, big and hairy and swinging from their ropes. We watched the male do his little "this is my place, not yours" dance and call, while the female retreated for a minute to the other side of the habitat. When she returned, the keeper said "Bella, I saw that..." and then explained to us that Bella had water in her mouth and often liked to spit it at visitors.

The keeper kept a stern eye on Bella, who kept her lips pursed and gave innocent-looking sideways glances away from us. The keeper kept telling us about the orangutans and how the rising popularity of trans-fat-free palm oil is depleting their natural habitat in Sumatra. It must have been nearly ten minutes, but Bella showed no signs of having swallowed the water. And just as we were about to leave--SPLAT!--she got me right down the front of my dress.

Time out, Bella!

It's amazing how similar primates are. To human toddlers, at least.

I'll post more pics from our Louisville visit and the zoo tour later this week. We saw a grizzly bear from about a foot away, got panhandled by a charming ape, and learned that tigers have an impressive vertical jump. What did you do this weekend?