Monkey at the Zoo

I took last Friday off work because Snuggles' sitter was away on a retreat. Since I had to use a vacation day, I figured we should make it fun!  So we met some friends from church at the Nashville Zoo. I was a little nervous about taking Snuggles to the zoo by myself because Snuggles is quite a handful these days, and I really hate it when he misbehaves acts like a toddler in public. He gets restless when he has to sit still for long, and he pretty much throws a major tantrum refuses to ride in his stroller. To avoid him running off--and subsequently my having to chase him all day long--I decided to take his toddler leash, which is basically a cute, little stuffed animal/backpack with a strap attached for me to drag him along keep Snuggles within arm's length. I bought it several months ago for a trip, but I've never used it.... until now.

If you're a parent, you probably know toddler leashes are not without controversy. I used to watch people with their kids on leashes and I would think, "Good grief. Do they think their kids are dogs?!"  But now I have my own toddler, and I see those leashes in a whole new light.

As we drove to the zoo, I debated whether or not to use the leash... What will people think of me? They'll think I'm a bad mom.  To my surprise (and relief!) when I met up with my two friends (whose sons are close to Snuggles' age), they both had toddler leashes for their boys!  :)  So, there we were... three fine examples of motherhood moms with three rambunctious boys on leashes!

Here's a video of Snuggles right after I put the leash on him. (The noises you hear in the background are white- cheeked gibbons.)


You've heard of chasing your tail, but what do you do when your tail is chasing you?!  :)

I'm not gonna lie. Snuggles hated the leash. (And his friends hated theirs, too.)  But that leash saved my bacon at the zoo, and I will gladly use it again.