Revisiting the Children's Museum

Ian slept in late today and was extra cranky, pointing at his mouth and saying owww. He must be going through another 2 year molar phase. It seems that over the past several months, they break the surface, go back in, break the surface...taking their sweet time to get the whole big tooth out and painfree.

To avoid a boring morning, which was sure to make him crankier, I loaded him up after breakfast and we headed out to the Children's Museum close to us. We wen't back in February, and he had fun, but not a ton of fun back then. Even just 6 months ago, he was still afraid of many things and was still so much smaller than most of the other kids. He had only been walking for a couple of months and still not steadily. He hadn't found his love of water yet, didn't know that big semi-trucks (or 'rigs' as he calls them) were really cool and not at all scary. He didn't have his vast experience with the logistics of the Brio train pieces and a giant tree house was not even on the table for consideration.

All of those things were a piece of cake this time. He loved the water discovery area and gladly got soaking wet as he investigated every station with sheer concentration. The "rig" was his favorite and we revisited that area several times. I got him to go in once, but when I got in with him, realized it still reeked of cigarette smoke from the owner who donated it to the museum years ago. He kicked the tires, checked out the grill, filled the tank, and kept running back to it, yelling RIG!

With my help, he scaled the steps of the giant tree house in the middle of the museum. It's probably really meant for older kids and no adults, but he really wanted to check it out, so up we went. From inside, there is a clear section of the floor that looks down into the main area, which he loved. He also wanted to look out into the museum from the "canopy" of the treehouse, saying "Look!" and asking for up each time.

We left after about 90 minutes and headed for Target, in the same complex. I wanted to look at kid's rolling suitcases or backpacks for our trip to Arizona next month. I showed him a Thomas the Train and Diego rolling backpacks, but he said "No...Away" to both and put them back on the shelf, asked to get back in the cart, and then asked for milk and eat. I'm so glad he is starting to get to the point where he can tell me what he wants. It makes life so much easier for both of us. It was crazy there anyways with school starting next week...so we bailed and headed back to the car. A snack and juice awaited him, and he contently ate his fruit snacks and pointed out the color of every car until we arrived home for nap.

As soon as he's awake, we're heading back out to go swimming and have dinner. Tomorrow, Shawn takes off for an all day dive in Hood Canal (with his brand new $2,500 diving camera.... and mine, that he ruined on his last dive, was $300 to replace. How fair is that?). I'd be outraged, but now he can't very well get upset if I spend money at the mall after making a purchase like that, so I decided not to give him a hard time. But he'd better come home with some really great pictures!

My new favorite thing... before and after. Stop me before I go too far!

This shot has nothing to do with today's trip, but I love the look on his face. He was making a race car (doubles as a motorcycle) sound... in response to my question "what's on your shirt?"

He flew to this duck picture. DUCK! Everyone in the museum knew this was a duck by the time we left.

I love the tippy toes here. No longer afraid to get wet. The wetter the better.

He was determined to get these pipe pieces together. His engineering side comes out yet again.

The rapids were fun....until he slipped off the step stool and I was way over on the other side obsessed with my camera. I got a few disapproving looks from the perfect parents there.

Man on a mission. This was probably his 3rd or 4th trip back to the "rig".

Checking out the grill

Topping off the tank

He's a pro at these now.

Checking out the treehouse

Following the big kids. He'll be this big one day. :-(