Ian Goes to the Museum

We are all still slowly coming out of our colds and Ian seems to be doing better than Shawn and me at this point. Ian scored "cheerful" in his last two days at daycare and reportedly didn't cough at all (magically beginning again during the car rides home). He even has his appetite back, although part of his motivation has been the addition of a fun eating utinsil we've been using to gain his interest...a nose aspirator. It's sterile, don't worry. It is funny watching him spear his food with the part that is supposed to go up his nose. It got him interested in eating again, so we'll take what we can get.

Today was actually a landmark day for us. We've been home exactly 3 months today! Only 90 short days ago, Ian officially became a US Citizen and started his orientation with life as he now knows it. It's very hard to believe that we've been home such a short period of time given all that he has overcome and been exposed to since. Some days it feels more like a year. Some days it feels like we just left China. Eventually, I'll stop counting the months, but for now, it seems noteworthy.

Because we've all been under the weather, we put off plans last weekend to go to the Kid's Quest Children's Museum near our house. It is essentially a big "pay to play" center in a mall near us, but there are several section for different age groups. There is a water area, where kids can shoot water, make it do scientific things...essentially make a big mess. It's probaby better for the 5 and over group and Ian didn't really get it. We weren't completely ready to deal with a wet kid on the ride home, so we didn't stick around that area long.

The next section was a 18-wheeler cab that the kids can climb in and on. We tried to get a picture of Ian with it for my dad, but he was afraid of it. It was pretty big, despite the fact that it has wheels...Ian's favorite thing.

Speaking of wheels, he did like a steering wheel that turned...yes, gears. His next favorite thing. He also liked the music area where they've made musical instruments out of everyday items. Unlike some Microtia kids, he actually really likes several noises at once. He just starts to get agitated when he can't figure out where they're all coming from. There was a drum set made from pots and pans, which would probably be really easy to duplicate, and a piano made from tennis shoe soles. He liked both of these things.

Another area, intended for 1-4 year olds, had numerous toys, play areas, slides, and train tracks...to name a few. He liked the slide as long as Shawn was holding him the whole time, and was sucked in by the huge brio style train track system. He could have played there all day, but didn't quite grasp the idea of sharing and wanted to take other kids' train pieces, which we obviously didn't allow and it didn't go over well. A parent kept trying to say "Ni Hao" (Chinese for hello) to Ian, which annoyed me. How did he know he wasn't born here, that my husband isn't Asian (Shawn wasn't nearby). For that matter, how did he know Ian isn't from Vietnam or Korea? Most people don't know the difference. Ian didn't respond. The only place he knows Ni Hao from now is the Nickelodeon show...I doubt he remembers it from China. Anyway, it was annoying and the first time we've had someone be ignorant in public, so we moved on and tried to stay away from the guy.

In all, it took him about 30 minutes or so for Ian to start to go into overload. A big majority of the place will be money well spent ($3 each with Shawn's MS discount) in another year or so. For example, the jewel of the place, a huge tree house network, will be fine when he's about 5. Until then is almost as scary for me to imagine him in it as it is for him to just look at from ground level. We might try going back again on a weekday afternoon when it isn't so crowded to see what we missed in the toddler area. It was literally wall to wall kids and parents today.

We finished the morning by having lunch at Red Robin, one of our favorite restaurants when we're craving burger style fare. What better way to celebrate Ian's citizenship but with All-American food. It was our 3rd official meal out since coming home. Considering we all had to drag ourselves out of the house for this outing, we were pretty zapped at this point (still before 1pm) and having a sit down meal was a lot of work. But, Ian was really well behaved and we got through it relatively unscathed. He even ate almost half of his grilled cheese, but preferred the "peace keeping" Cheerios that I always pack in my purse.

A quick stop at Target gave Ian just enough time to engineer an outfit destroying, diaper blowout for the ride home....and we're all napping now (well, everyone but me). It was a full day and a lot of fun despite how exhausting it was. As Ian gets older, these types of things will be a lot of fun (and maybe recruiting a grandparent to tag along as help isn't a bad idea).

Below are a bunch of pictures from today. Ian's nose aspirator fork, Kids Quest Children's Museum in Factoria, and Ian's first trip to Red Robin.

1. First spear the food

2. Next, carefully navigate food into mouth. Be careful not to squeeze too early.

3. Laugh hysterically at how funny you are!


Ian loved the train system...of course, the trains had wheels!

The overhead tree house was very cool. This is only one part of it.

He didn't quite understand the water wheel. He preferred the random ball he found on the floor.

This truck cab was imbedded in the cement and actually really neat. Ian didn't want to get anywhere near it so we sadly took one picture and moved on.

He really got into the pots & pans drum set.

A piano keyboard with sole.

This wheel turned gears and lit up. Hard to take a picture of, but pretty neat.

Examining the menu at Red Robin. He decided on Grilled Cheese (my favorite as a kid) with canteloupe and milk.