Monday and Thursdays it’s me and the kids, all day long. So today: the San Francisco Zoo. Good day to go, too: completely empty.

This morning, when I told Sophia we were going to the Zoo, she said, “I need a camera!” I said, “Wha’?” Darin filled me in: there’s an episode of Dora where Dora takes lots of pictures of animals. And he was right: as we walked around the Zoo Sophia kept singing, “Finding the animals,” which definitely had a Dora-esque ring to it.

When Darin and I were cleaning my office last weekend, I found an unused disposable camera and gave it to Sophia for today. She was thrilled. Want to make a tot happy? Disposable camera. That’s all I’m saying.

Today at the Zoo we discovered the Children’s Zoo area, which we hadn’t visited the last time. It’s pretty good. Well, the carousel made me dizzy, but Sophia loved it. And the petting zoo?

It was totally great. Sophia was right in there, brushing off all the goats, petting the sheep, asking me once again if she can go ride a horse. (Have to find horse rides around here. Shouldn’t be too hard, with the Santa Cruz mountains and all their attendant stables nearby.)

Simon was not too fond of the animals, given that they were for the most part much, much bigger than he was. In fact, a goat came near him and he started to cry, which was understandable because goats are scary. (Have you ever looked in their eyes? They’re slitted. Seriously. Creepiest eyes I’ve ever seen.) But he did find something he liked:

I could have left him there all day and he’d still be walking around with that thing. (He couldn’t quite ride it—every time I put him on the seat he slipped right off. But he liked walking it!)

We spent four hours at the Zoo today. Sophia made several new friends and was prepared to lay the smack down on me when I told her it was time to go.

I wish it weren’t so far away. We’d go a lot more often if it weren’t. They loved it.

In 2000, I put Sophia in her costume as Supergirl, and she thought it was great. Probably went to sleep around 6, as per usual.

In 2001, I bought her a princess-fairy costume, and she wouldn’t look at it.

In 2002, she wanted the Thomas costume. Which she wore all of about 3 seconds at her preschool’s Halloween party. She proceeded to fall asleep on the way home (around 4pm) and sleep the night through (something she was doing a lot at that time, which is why I cut way back on her activities for a while). So she didn’t trick-or-treat last year.

This year, things were different.

Oh yeah. She was all over the trick-or-treating thing. She’s been wearing the Tinkerbell costume for days now. She wore it to school today. She wanted to wear it all day, but it was too cold (and rainy!) for that.

After she napped a bit this afternoon, we rehearsed how to trick-or-treat, with each of us taking turns as the trick-or-treater and the lady answering the door. That helped, actually, because she started out holding her hand over her mouth while saying it, and by the time she set off on her adventure she was singing it clearly. Darin told me by the end of their rounds, she was telling him to stay back and she went up to the door by herself to do it.

Simon went with. Now he’s figured out the whole candy-extortion thing.

My kids went trick-or-treating. Another milestone passed. (Sob.)

You know what they’re saying in this photo?

“Our parents bought us this big house…and all we get to use is this tiny corner of the playroom! Don’t you feel sorry for us? Don’t you want to adopt us and give us everything we want? You know you do. Call soon.”