Playdate at the Zoo

We haven't been to the zoo in quite a while: these pictures are from almost three months ago (I have a tremendous backlog of photos thanks to erratic posting). I will have to make it a priority to go sometime in the next two weeks, before we leave Singapore for the holidays.

These waterlilies can supposedly support up to 70 pounds: I was really tempted to test it out using R but managed to restrain myself. How bad is it to use my kid as a guinea pig, though? I still want to... 

R already wants to do it: she is a pretty daring child

The zoo has all kinds of cool animals of course, but it also has many interesting plant exhibits. Everything grows well in Singapore thanks to the climate: one of its official nicknames is "the Garden City". 

Educational display about durian, a supposedly delicious fruit notorious for its smell (which closely resembles vomit). I have never eaten it for that reason. 

R in a rare moment of posing cooperativeness: I love orchids so much!

We visited the Fragile Forest again, which is maybe my favorite exhibit at the zoo. The lemurs were the main attraction for R and her friend, but I still prefer the bats. They don't frighten me at all (though this seems to be a minority view: my father-in-law wouldn't even enter the bat exhibit when he visited). I find them totally fascinating. Mammals that fly! And live large portions of their lives upside down! So interesting.

The Fragile Forest dome has all sorts of free-ranging creatures: butterflies...

lemurs of course... 

my favorite bats...

and the ridiculously small mouse deer, the chihuahua of the hoofed animal kingdom.

You can get really close to all the animals: here's R's friend for an example

I love seeing R interact with her friends because I find it hilarious. When she was smaller, all interactions were of the "parallel play" variety (where they just copy each other without directly acknowledging each other's presence). They still do this, but now they will also have conversations and joke with each other. I suppose the next step is interacting independently (ie, without any adult involvement) so I should enjoy the chance to spy in on her relationships while I still can.

Copying while apparently ignoring

Discussing the ducks swimming

The most popular thing to do together: run around shrieking and being goofy