Monday, August 4, 2008

A day at the bird park that we will never forget

Now Squiggles' first visit to the bird park is not something that I would expect to forget. But she made sure that even when I am senile I will not forget what she did on this hot sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Singapore Bird Park is a popular tourist attraction and DD's aunt and uncle were very keen to go there. The plan was to go shopping in the morning, come back home for lunch and then head out to the bird park about 3pm. So, I just picked up Squiggles' water bottle and one diaper, not really expecting to need anything more since we would be back home in a couple of hours. And just to make things easier, we didn't take the pram along either. DD had a super bright idea and decided half way that we would go to the bird park first. Despite my subtle reminders that it wouldn't be convenient because we weren't carrying the requisite baby stuff, he over rode me and we headed to the park.

The afternoon sun was at its peak at 1pm and I had no sunscreen for Squiggles. With visions of a pink sunburnt Squiggles flashing through my mind I attempted to provide as much shade as possible through my hands and the miniscule cover of the rented pram.

We saw some beautiful birds. Amazing flamingoes, pelicans, parakeets, parrots, mynahs, birds of prey and many more. One of the displays was this huge open air net canopy which was just like being inside a rain forest. The birds couldn't escape because of the net but it was still big enough for them to flutter around. They also had paths that enabled us to walk around amidst the vegetation and feed the birds. The colourful birds were clearly used to humans and instead of flying away were quite happy to come up and be fed.

Of course they hadn't reckoned for little Miss Squiggles. DD was holding her hand and showing her all the birds. At one point she let go of his hand to explore with a bit more independence. And suddenly out of the blue, she reached out and tried to grab the parrot's beak! The poor terrified and shocked parrot responded in reflex by biting her finger. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt (Squiggles, I mean). But she sure had a shock of her life. And was wailing and whining for a while after. I was torn between laughter and concern. Once I knew she was unhurt, I couldn't help chuckling. Only our original character could make her first trip to the bird park so memorable. We were joking afterwards, that we couldn't take her to the zoo because she would try to take on the lion and that wouldn't be a good result!

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful in comparison :).

4 comments:

Mala said...

Hmph :-) when you mentioned only one diaper, I thought you were building up a story involving poop explosions :-)
I loved Jurong..what is it with these kids anyway? The boy is in love with "kaka" and keeps charging up to the crows that sit on our balcony railing. Usually they get scared and fly off, but I am terrified that one of them will peck him one day.

Squiggles Mom said...

Mala - Nah, thank god we were saved the poop disaster :). This was one was by far more entertaining. Dhruv charges at the birds too! S does that to dogs as well, so we have to keep her at a distance which is difficult given her enthusiasm for them.

noon said...

Hey SM - I too thought you had some major diaper shortage when you went to the bird park first...
Scary indeed...I hate birds hovering over my head - always have this feeling one of them will peck me in the head or face! S is the same age as KG and I totally can picture this kind of thing happening to her...the other day she was craning her neck in between the book shelf and the little space by the yard wall size window. She was trying to reach something - I pulled her out to see what she was trying to reach - turns out it was a spider...in the lake too she just literally jumps into the water chasing them. It would so much fun to see both S and KG together doing such things...but in a way it is so nice isn't it - that S did not have any fear at all and just held the bird's beak...dangerous in some situations I know - but still nice to think they have no fear now..

Squiggles Mom said...

Hi Noon - It would be fun to watch them together, it'll just make us grey faster!
I didn't mind that the bird pecked at her because in the end all was fine and I really don't want to see this curiousity phase end, as long as she remains relatively unharmed of course.
I can totally see S gunning after a spider too :)). Cute these kids are.