Kevin and I went to the bear enclosure and the program was really pretty good. It was aimed at little kids, but the zoo keeper really seemed to know what she was talking about. As it turned out, it was the polar bear enclosure, which made the whole thing even more interesting. The pen the bears were kept in was at ground level, but, if you went down a ramp, there was a glass wall with the polar bears’ pool behind it and there were a couple of tiers of seats, like bleachers, where the audience sat to watch the bears swim and hear the presentation. It was like a big polar bear aquarium.

When we went down the ramp, I noticed a parking area for strollers and an attendant said that all strollers had to be left there. I was about to protest that it wasn’t a stroller, but a wheelchair when I noticed that apart from a minor size difference it wasn’t any different from the other strollers. (Who was I trying to kid.) I slung my bag over my right shoulder and picked Kevin up and plopped him on my left hip. He put his arms around my neck as I carried him and I could hear him humming a little tune that I couldn’t place right away but then I realized it was the theme song from the Barney TV show.

We sat in the back row of the bleachers and the Kevin said, “Could I sit on your lap?… I think I’ll be able to see better if I do.”

“Sure,” I said, “if you like.” Actually I enjoyed the cable car ride with Kevin on my lap and I was hoping he’d want to sit on my lap again, but I didn’t want to ask him. He sat on my right thigh with his legs dangling between mine and I wrapped my arms around his waist to keep him secure.

The presentation was delayed a little bit and Kevin said, “Carrie, I’m thirsty. Do you have anything to drink.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a couple of bottles of water and a couple bottles of the orange pedialyte. Do you want one?”

“Yes, please.”

“Which?”

“Sorry, the orange pedialyte.”

I reached into the outer pocket of my bag and pulled out one of the pedialyte sports bottles and gave it to Kevin. He broke the seal and began drinking. I looked around me and there were about thirty people gathered. It was mostly little boys and girls. Most of the grownups were women, clearly either mommies or caregivers. Several of the smaller kids were drinking from bottles or sippy cups. Kevin fit right in.