No Nap Made Worthwhile

Every morning, I have a simple wish; to be able to go back to bed once I'm done with the morning dropoffs. Unfortunately, there is Muffin who is awake by the time I get home. On occasion, he rings me before I get home to ask if we can go out. 

This morning was no different, except that with a cough and cold that has been ongoing for 10 days, more than ever, I had a heavy head and wanted to have a lie down even if I couldn't go back to sleep. But when your four year old calls to ask if we can go to Botanic Gardens and he tells you that he's already had breakfast and his bath, everything else becomes moot. I take a deep breath, pick him up instead of park the car and swing back out. 

But I didn't regret it. Neither did I drive into a pole but that's beside the point. 

Apart from the fact that Muffin is always full of glee and joy in the gardens, we managed to see something that I don't think was an everyday occurrence. 

Muffin's favourite activity at the gardens is to feed the fish at the Swan Lake. He's used to the gazillions of fish and terrapins that await his stale bits of bread. But this morning, there was something else in the water that made both of us stop short. It looked Loch Ness like. Upon closer inspection, it was a huge monitor lizard with its head above water periscoping around. That in itself was fascinating enough as it swam near the edge of the pond and occasionally dived under. Muffin was convinced it was a crocodile or an alligator.

Truth be told, I HATE LIZARDS. Big ones, small ones, all sorts. If I had been alone, I would have run screaming in the opposite direction. As it is, when this was circulating yesterday, I had told Packrat that if there was a monitor lizard hanging from our neighbour's or our gate, he could come find me at the Starbucks across the road after the AVA had come and picked it up and promised that it was gone and good.  But for Muffin's benefit, we had stuck around. 

The last dive the lizard made was a long one. Muffin kept scanning the water to locate it. When it did surface, it had something clamped in its jaws.That leads me to another thing I shudder and would not go out of my way to look at. DEAD HELPLESS ANIMALS. And the monitor lizard had caught itself a giant catfish and was trying to make land with it so that it could probably feast on it. 

Its valiant struggles attracted a crowd and Muffin while fascinated was also a little freaked out, dragged me to follow the lizard while it tried to find somewhere it could make land. It made it half way round the circumference of the lake before the cleaner decided it had eaten enough of the catfish and removed it explaining that if he didn't do that, the fish would rot and the water would be grossly murky and stink. 

Muffin has not stopped talking about the 'vomitor' lizard and the poor catfish. He told every stranger we met all the way back to the car. He told his teachers in school. He told the helper on his school bus. I saw him gesture and show her how big it was. And he is convinced it is evil. Even though I explained to him that the monitor lizard was just hungry and needed to eat, he wasn't very convinced that the monitor lizard was 'good'. The 4 yo's world is very black and white. 

So, I am glad that we went to the park. I am glad he got to see the monitor lizard in action close up. So close up, we took a video for his siblings, who would be most jealous, to watch. I am glad he got splashed by the lizard's tail (though he was suitably miffed because the water got into his eye) and I am glad I got a chance to explain to Muffin that what he was seeing was natural and pretty much the same as what he watches on National Geographic.

Do I still wish I could have taken a nap? Definitely. It's 1 pm now and that nap feels more necessary now. But do I regret not taking that nap? Nope. I  think even if we stalked the lake every day for the rest of the year, we may not get the same opportunity as we did this morning.