Journal: 1/29/06

I had a wonderful morning yesterday, when I joined Jan, Jaimie (my son), and little Noah, my 2-year-old grandson, for a frolicsome visit to the Mystic Aquarium. We’ve met there a number of times now, and each visit gets a little more lighthearted and lively. We all seem to skip among the exhibits rather than just walk. Of course, this happy mood is mostly generated by young Noah himself, who has an abiding love for the Aquarium. As soon as we entered the gates, he began running in his effortless, bouncy way – not toward any particular exhibit, but in circles, around and around in happiness. (Instead of "run", I have a new word for what he does: "rounce".) When we got him settled a bit, he went from exhibit to exhibit, flashing looks of astonishment, happiness, surprise, and even fear. (He didn’t want to get too close to the “diving man” who was cleaning a tank from the inside, underwater.) Surely the people who designed the Aquarium had perceptive, effusive boys like Noah in mind. Just before leaving, we attended the daily sea lion show upstairs. To be honest, I found it somewhat distasteful (I don’t enjoy watching beautiful animals in captivity performing silly tricks), but Noah was entranced by it. He sat on my lap sucking on his juice cup as he watched the sea lions diving and sliding and soaring. I imagine he had some slippery, sliding dreams of these lovely animals last night.