I’m finding myself observing how little kids act as I go about my day to day activities, and it’s making me more and more excited to welcome our baby girl into the world. Some friends of ours invited us to our first dim sum, basically Chinese brunch, and then to go visit the North Park Mall Train exhibit today, and we said we’d love to. Their son is almost 2 now, so it was fun walking around and seeing him interact with all the stimuli of a mall alongside hundreds of other children of all ages.
Dim sum was actually really good, but I was happy someone knew what to order, because I sure didn’t. Somewhere during the meal I channeled my inner Andrew Zimmer and ate my first chicken foot. It wasn’t what I would call ‘bad’, but I can assure you it’s not something I’ll crave any time soon. We sampled various types of dumplings and noodles and it was all really fantastic.
We then headed to North Park Mall in Dallas for walking, talking, and trains. I remember going to the model train exhibit at the Galleria Mall when I was a boy, and it was very similar to the one we visited today. Tons of awesome trains and models wound around the venue and it was packed with parents trying to take pictures of unwilling kids and mothers grabbing the hand of little children before they grabbed a train straight off the tracks. I was happy to see that Big Tex’s legend will continue after he met a tragic end this year at the State Fair.
While we were walking around the mall we stopped at a little group of ponds that had turtles and ducks floating around in it and kids stopped in their tracks mesmerized by the little animals. It was funny to see how boys and girls alike looked in wonder at a few turtles that barely moved and it gave me a minute to think about baby Horner. I wonder if she’ll be an animal lover, if she’ll be shy in front of the camera like her father was growing up, or if she’ll love wandering around the mall when she’s little. I wonder how I’ll react when it’s my daughter screaming when she doesn’t get her way, when she wanders off in a crowded place, or when she gets a little too close the the ducks in the pond. I wonder so much about my baby girl and I can’t wait to meet her.