rub it in
Kirby wanted to visit an Aquarium, so we went there. His initial enthusiasm seemed to fade as soon as we entered the premises, and changed back into high gear when we saw the first animal. For some reason he couldn't—or wouldn't—tell us, why Crabs were his main focus at this visit. He had a long talk with one of the staff members about Sea turtles, which both enjoyed.
There was one instance, where a visitor reached out to touch one of the monkeys in the area, where they're able to move freely. A Staff member called her out, and after i had read the information sheet about the monkeys, i would have let her rub her face in the monkey's fur; to signal their connection with the group, they're rubbing their fur with each others faeces and urine. We shouldn't keep people from enjoying the customs of their ancestry.
Before we headed home, we spent some time in a park, under a tree, which was a nice way to unwind.
Kirby had bought himself a small version of some Lego Ninjago Mech1, and after he had assembled it, both our minds started to fill in the intricate detail of this giant robot, who soared across the skies, building up the momentum to reach escape velocity, so he can try and divert the asteroid that'll make planetfall in a few hours.
It reminded me of a blog post i read on A Million Robots2 about how the Missing Link Transformers give us the opportunity to bring the toys from back then into the actual shapes we saw in our minds—and be snobbish about dollies.
Later, we assembled the parts the mech consists of, without a manual—which wasn't an achievement that needs perpetual celebration, just reoccurring one—, and it kept our imagination fueled. It was a fun playing with Kirby, and seeing how good he felt about being able to assemble a few Lego things like they are on the package without an instructions.
Mini Ninja combo mech // Lego.com↩
The Memory Of Play - How Transformers 'Missing Link' seeks to reimagine toys for adults - and what that says about us // millionrobots.beehiv.com↩