18 months and at the Zoo!

Ayla turned 18 months this past Tuesday. I can't believe it, she is a year and a half. Where is the time going? She weighs 20 lbs and is 31 1/2 inches long. According to my last record she lost 1 pound and shrunk just a tiny bit or I just don't measure her correctly and my scale is not as accurate as the doctor's office. I think it is the second reason. Oh well, moving on. 

Some of the things she accomplished are:

*She now makes a snake noise. SSSS.*

*She is learning what time out is.* 

*I started to do her hair for the first time and she looks adorable in a pony tail.*

*She really is becoming a girly girl. She loves feeding her dolls, loves her shoes and carries a purse around with her cell phone. She cracks me up.*

*She is really getting good at the things she learned the month before.*

She is so much fun!

On her 18 month birthday, we went to the Hogle Zoo with my mom and my friend, Melissa. We had a good time.

Ayla made many friends there. This was her first friend and this little girl was so cute. She would try and hug Ayla and hold her hand. She was so sweet. And the crazy thing was her name was Ayla. I couldn't believe it. Ayla is not a common name but I guess it is starting to be.

Ayla and I at the giant elephant statue.

Ayla really liked the elephant. 

There was only one out because the other one was inside bonding with its new baby.

So cute!

Had to get one with me and her and the elephant.

She loved being around the other kids there.

I loved this one. It looks like she is walking with her hand in her pocket.

At the gorilla cage they have a sign you can measure up to.

Ayla was a the size of a juvenile.

I had to get in on the action.

Ayla is standing in front of the male tiger cage. 

You can't really see the tiger but you might be able to if you click on the picture. I knew this was the male because the zoo worker informed us he was the daddy of 3 new tiger cubs. We did get to see one of the cubs but it was hard because all of the animals were sleeping.

Here we are with the giraffes. There was a baby giraffe.

Isn't the baby cute? He was a very small giraffe.

Here is a picture of my mom and Melissa. 

I didn't get very many pictures of them but this is one of them.

Ayla and I rode the new carousel they have there.

Ayla got to ride the zebra.

She was done half way through the ride.

Here is another one of the friends Ayla made there. I had a hard time with this little girl at first because she was mean to Ayla. She was looking at her and telling her "No" and then she pushed her. I said, "Hey, no pushing. Be nice." After that, the little girl started to be nice to Ayla. 

Ayla liked this little bunny.

She really enjoyed the baby meerkats. There were 8 of them. 

There are a lot of babies at the zoo right now. There was even a baby snow leopard and a baby orangatang. 

This was another one of the friends she made. Her name was Jordan and they were only a week apart in age.  She played with her the longest.

The last thing we did was ride the train. You can't go to the zoo and not ride the train.

Here is Ayla between me and Melissa.

I took this not sure if Ayla was centered. I just pointed the camera at her. I think it turned out adorable.

And Melissa took this one of us.

We had a great day at the zoo and, when it was over, we all were pretty tired. We were there for 4 hours. Ayla and I are supposed to go back to the zoo tomorrow but I'm not sure we will make it because Ayla had her 18 month shots yesterday and she is teething. She has two teeth coming in on the top. Between these two things, she has been cranky and has had fevers but only in the evenings. During the day she seems fine but I guess we will see. I really want to go. You see, my mother-in-law has a membership to the zoo and tomorrow they are having a special morning just for members. You have to be at the zoo at 7:30 a.m. and you get to see the animals eat and be more active. I think Ayla and I would enjoy that very much. Not to mention spending time with my mother-in-law, Krista, Morganne, baby Kurt and Brooke. It sounds like fun but I guess we will see.

I love the zoo! I am so glad they have improved it too. The animals have better living environments!