gorillas and ribbit ribbits

So, we took Luki to the San Diego Wild Animal Park to meet the gorillas, the ducks and giraffes we have been reading about in his bedtime stories.  We spent a nice weekend down in San Diego courtesy of the groupon deal I purchased 6 months ago for 4 tickets to the zoo, one night stay at the Radisson in Rancho Bernardo and breakfast for four.  I was hoping my brother Mik would join us with his girlfriend, Melody, but he informed me that they have broken up recently.  He did come to the zoo with us, alone.  We met up at the hotel which happened to be in the same city Mik used to work so he was well familiar with the area.  He took us to a Japanese restauarnt near the hotel and we discussed why it is  that most Japanese restaurants in San Diego county are owned byKoreans.  We chit chatted about his recent breakup with Melody and how his work was coming along.  Melody apparently is eager to get married and start a family but Mik wants a prenup before any legal commitments.  How romantic.  He also said he quit his job as a director of a electronic startup company  because they never follow his advice and also said he wanted to start his own business.  I have heard this  for about 10 years now. Maybe this time, it will happen.
Lucas fell asleep right away as we arrived at the Park.  This is so like him on top of the fact that he had alot of rice with miso soup for lunch at the Japanese restaurant.  Like mommy, rice puts him to sleep.  I was hoping he would look at the gorillas and start giggling as he does at home when looking at the cartoon picture of a gorilla in his storybook.  Unfortunately, he didn't look directly at them at all.  I am not even sure he was aware they were there. He was very quiet and attentive to the environment around him-the trees, people, other small kids and for that I felt relieved.  He seems to be more aware of his environmnet than before and for that I am grateful.  I get a high on every little milestone and accomplishment he makes.  I think if he really saw the gorillas, he would be scared.   He didn't really care for the ducks or the giraffes and in fact started to cry when the ducks came too close to him.  He didn't really care to pet the goats in the petting area, either.

  Recently, I have noticed that Luki giggles and reacts to specific sounds and words.  He has actually done this around the age of 6 months.  The first word he giggled at was 'purple' followed by Gabriel coughing and clearing his throat which I managed to get captured in video and uploaded to YouTube
for hourly enjoyment and study (see above video) - mostly by me as all the view count is accounted for by me.   Now, he giggles every time I say gorilla or 'ribbit ribbit'.  Usually, when I come home in the morning from work, and as Luki eats his breakfast with Gabriel, I stand off to the side and call out his name in hopes he would know I was away and have returned.  I could say his name 100 times but he would not look at me or even be aware I am back home until I snuggle him in my arms and put his face close to mine.  Today, was no exception. I tried calling him a few times and got the idea that maybe I should say 'gorilla".  Immediately, he was at attention and turned his head directly towards me as if  to say "mommy said gorilla! I heard it but I don't see her!"  At that moment, I thought about changing his name to gorilla.  Well, at least his pet name now is "my  little gorilla". Gabriel's pet name for him is "Mita Tinky" (Mr. Stinky) because of the smell of his poop.