The main conflict was Elisey not wanting to hold an adult's hand when we're walking around. While I know it's part of child development to want independence, he also doesn't stop when told to, and so it's not safe to let him wander unattached all the time. This is going to be a long term conflict, I'm afraid. When we walk around the neighborhood and I tell him to hold my hand, he argues, saying, "I don't see any cars here, do you? Do you?" While I understand enough Bulgarian to know what he is saying, mine is too limited to explain that if he stopped more quickly when I told him to, he could more often walk without holding my hand. That will have to wait until he gets more English.
Afterward we went to a playground near the zoo. The boys enjoyed this almost as much.
We will probably return to the zoo often, assuming all goes well.
Here are the boys at the zoo:
