Zach and I had fun today. I love this child so much my whole being bursts into bloom when I see him. We hadn't seen each other for three weeks because I've been gone on Wednesday's, so he jumped into my arms and I melted into his huge, blue eyes, eyes just like his mother's, face just as sweet.
We decided to make a big day of it and go to the Academy of Sciences in the city. I had forgotten that Tut is at the De Young which meant we had to park so far away that we had to pop into the De Young because it was the closest bathroom and I had to go, so we went out into the sculpture garden and explored and went into the circle that is Three Gems. There is nothing like a museum with a three year old. He walked along the bumpy slate paths and checked out the lights set into the ground. One statement that we don't touch the art, even the twelve red apples on the ground, and he was careful only to look. He was puzzled by the statue of Winged Woman Walking, which has no head and only one wing and I was puzzled too. He wondered why my purse wasn't searched. I wondered too. I guess when you walk in with a three year old clearly in need of a bathroom, you don't look like you're planning to bomb King Tut.
We don't walk in any kind of straight path so it took about an hour to arrive at the Academy of Science which is just across the way. We watched the sting rays and the sharks and checked out the pendulum that shows the turning of the earth and looked at a giant tortoise and then, when I showed him the photo on the wall that my young friend Kara Scherer took, we realized there was a special room for children under five. Off came our shoes and in we went. One child was crying. Zach took her a toy. Some of the carpet looks like wood. Zach spent a great deal of time exploring how wood could be soft. I was intrigued too. We do a great deal of exploring at levels I don't normally see. We walk along and everything says hello to us, so we say "The grass says hello," and like that, and on and on we go. At the Academy of Science, his hand was stamped with a T. Rex and he was given an activity book with a song about eels.
The Academy of Science is a great gift, the De Young, the benches, the park. I came home and for some reason felt very sick so I watched the moon become more distinct in the sky as it got dark, and then, the fog covered it. Steve made soup. I still don't feel well and I will tomorrow. When I'm with Zach, we notice every leaf and thank the weeds and talk about what everything eats, and today, when I said I love you, he said, Thank you, and I realized that was the most perfect response of all! I so want his mother to be well. She is home from the hospital and on the mend. Prayers for health for us all!
