I was awakened Sunday morning when AJ inserted two little fingers into my mouth in an attempt to pry it open and peer inside. He was anxious to get on with his day, which he knew would contain some new adventures. Why not start with the mysteries of adult teeth?

We managed to get packed and into the car and to my brother-in-law�s house to pick up my husband�s brother and sister who were accompanying us on AJ�s first visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo, or at least his first visit since he was old enough to have any idea what he was looking at. As the majority of children�s books, or at least the one�s that AJ and I have been reading, are populated by animals, the zoo has an automatic appeal. Most of these books present unusual examples of animal behavior, but the rampant anthropomorphism has its own logic. For instance, it is never questioned that while most animals in such books walk around on their hind legs and talk in perfect English, they still have pets who retain their innate animal qualities. Moreover, such owner-pet relationships often result in ridiculous hybrid animals of an unusual size. Take Miffy, for example, a young rabbit who has gained some fame as the representative of the New York City Department of Tourism, a role which even garnered her an appearance on Late Night with Conan O�Brien. a lot of animal-related books lately, most having to do with bears. Miffy owns a pet dog named Snuffy. Snuffy only comes up to Miffy�s knee, which either makes Miffy the biggest rabbit that ever lived (unless you count Harvey, who has the disadvantage of being invisible) or Snuffy about the size of a shrew. And then there�s Maisy the mouse who not only has a pet black cat (called �Little Black Cat,� in a gesture that separates her from the other animals that populate Maisy�s world) who says nothing more than �Meow,� but regularly fraternizes with a chicken named Tallulah, an alligator named Charlie, a squirrel named Cyril and an elephant named Eddie, all of whom are pretty close in size and don�t seem to have any desire to eat one another.

Given all of this misinformation, we figured it was about time AJ was introduced to some actual animals. So to the zoo we went.

AJ was a little freaked out by the mobs of people at the zoo, but seemed to enjoy himself for the most part. Our entire zoo trip was guided by books we�ve read. The polar bears were Larry and Roy (two urbane polar bears in a book by Daniel and Jill Pinkwater entitled At the Hotel Larry) until we found a sign that one of them was named Lee in honor of Illinois politician Lee A. Daniels. Although we were mildly alarmed to find that our favorite polar bear is a Republican, we were all fascinated by watching the bears swim in the water. Lee swam right up to the glass window where we were standing, perhaps a foot away.

AJ is not as big as a polar bear.

Then we went to visit Sammy the Seal (a classic by the late Syd Hoff. An excellent review by a 6 and 7 year old is here) and his friends who were much less accommodating of our quest for animal knowledge, choosing to swim away from us. As a result, AJ was much more interested in the seagulls swooping down in search of handouts and of a duck who decided to follow him around, thanks to the trail of cracker crumbs drifting from his closed fist. Babar and Celeste were next on our list. AJ was fascinated to see them toss mud and straw on their heads in order to keep the sun off. It�s amazing how much friendlier the animals seemed with names attached. In the feline building we saw a black leopard, which looked almost exactly like an overgrown version of our cat Mr. Stein. Seeing the familiar displayed as notable was clearly a highlight. AJ was perhaps most excited by watching the sparrows in the picnic area dive for crumbs.

I remember loving this kind of thing when I was little too. When I was around AJ�s age, my mom started taking me to MOMA pretty regularly. The thing that I loved about that museum was the design section � seeing familiar household objects removed from their mundane roles as tables, chairs, vacuums, coffeemakers and literally put on a pedestal to allow for scrutiny in a different light. Did I live in a museum?

[Late entry yesterday. Click back for rambling reminiscences on biking and program music.]

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