Call It What You Want...

Today was a great day. Today was the much-anticipated trip to the Children's Museum. We were meeting a friend there, and it seemed as good a time as any, particularly since my work ID was back in my possession and I could get in for free.

Our first activity upon arrival was lunch. We got a table in the food court facing the windows, with hopes that facing away from all the action would enable Mark to focus on his eating. For once, there was nothing to fear. He tucked into his pizza and breadstick like a starving wolf, or at least like I imagine a starving wolf would if given pizza and a breadstick. In the meantime, friend Andrea went off to fill drink cups, leaving Aislinn to chew on a little piece of breadstick. She finished it and decided she wanted more, so she grabbed the tray and started to pull it toward herself. Quick thinking by Auntie Jur saved the day (and Andrea's lunch).

We saw lots of amazing things. Mark was in hog heaven. In each area, he was able to stroll/run from activity to activity, trying new things, looking at fascinating things. He got to look at what it's like underwater in a pond, saw a stuffed fox, and played with rubber rocks and building blocks in the Science area; and rode a giraffe on the carousel, but the most wonderful thing was the Playscape area, designed for preschoolers and younger, where Mark could play with abandon.

The best area was the water table, long troughs of moving water with all manner of floating toys, and all at the perfect height for little people. Despite the supplied rubberized coverup and provided clip to keep it fastened, a certain baby ended up with wet sleeves, but he had such a wonderful time! Every time he finished with another area in Playscape (the sandbox, baby climbing stuff, building stuff, etc...), he would head back toward the water table for another go. (And each time as I caught him and felt his soaking sleeves, I directed him somewhere else....)

We saw the dinosaurs and fish, played a computer game (and finally got to Indiana in an "Oregon Trail"-type game), went into a real log cabin (old hat, he told me), and tried lots of other fun stuff.

We'll be going back. Especially since, for Mommy (and the boy who is under 2), it's free.