Munch and I picked up K and her mama on our way out, and we ended up getting there a bit earlier than A and her mama. So our first 15 minutes or so were spent with just 2 of the girls, in the first exhibit that greeted us: Cars. I led Munch through the walk-in car wash that flashes lights and blows air--she was not a fan--and showed her some cars made with mega-blocs that she could interchange parts on. She basically just wanted to carry stuff around and look at everything, and not really interact with much else, and this proved to be a common theme throughout our visit...
Grabbing some cars at the bottom of the racetrack.
K was amazed at how the cars zipped down the track from where she placed them.
Both girls, riding in the 'car.'
We both called their names at exactly the same time, and YES, what a shot! :)
From there we moved on to the grocery store. Munch was fascinated by the 'fresh' foods--limes, oranges, bananas, onions, etc. She'd pick one up, carry it, put it down, pick up another. I tried several times to get her interested in a shopping cart, but she just wasn't having it. Until I showed her a can of peas, and put *that* in the cart. Then she grabbed 2 more and tossed them in with urgency!! She went on from there, filling up her cart with some random stuff, and really just loving walking around and moving different things here and there. It was a well-stocked little store.
Selecting her produce. They were weighted to feel real--very nice!
I can almost hear her saying it: 'Muh! Muh!' The funny thing is that she didn't at all when she saw these--she was complaining about something else entirely, and I just happened to capture the right look in this picture.
She's found the cart! Time to do some real shopping.
A and her mama have come to shop with us! Everyone raids the produce section.
Getting a carrot into the shopping cart is harder than it looks--this one got caught on her blouse. :)
Next was the library. And Munch surprised me, although perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised. She could have cared less for their book selections...She wanted the computers. They had several kid programs to choose from, including the same one we had on the kid computers at my old preschool! That was a fun find, since I knew *exactly* which program Munch would enjoy...the one that actually allows her to do something with the keyboard that she finds so fascinating. And minus a little hiccough with the computers that required them to be reset by a staff member, we had a good time in there.
A and her mama read one of our favorites: Barnyard Dance.
Intense little K is VERY into her book, pointing at everything.
Meanwhile, Munch enjoys Bailey's Book House typing program.
Then we moved on to a noisier section, and Munch quickly decided it was not her thing. She had several little meltdowns in the music room in particular, and we left that area pretty soon after...although the area we went to next wasn't much quieter, as a number of school classrooms had showed up by then on field trips. One cool thing though: We actually knew one of the kids--a friend's daughter from church! She was very excited to see all of us--though I think the babes were just a tad overwhelmed by her exuberance. :) Munch again found things to carry around, and she was more interested in them than anything else.
A cool station in a temporary exhibit that Munch had no interest in: The camera and scanner above played different notes depending on where the movement was on the carpet.
Munch found a couple little critters that she preferred over steering the boat.
A's mama tries to show her the different animal pictures...and A was more interested in my camera. :)
K shows Munch how it's done.
Then, thanks to lovely weather, we headed for the outside exhibit, though we made a brief stop-off at another exhibit just before the door--various machineries and weights and trains. Munch got very excited about one station that had a tiny ramp leading up to it--it weighed her every time she got on it, but she didn't care about that as much as she cared that "The floor is uneven and I must explore this strange phenomenon!!" :)
Munch definitely takes up more than her fair share of the half of that 50 pounds!
We finally went outside--sans coats!!! It was wonderful weather, perfectly blue sky, light breeze. Aaaaahhh. Munch proved what a city girl she is. She absolutely refused to walk on the grass, and stuck to the sidewalks the entire time. Little K apparently is just the opposite, as she climbed a grassy mound in the center and stayed there. Munch did like the pinecones she found, and kept them with her as her travelling companions until she was ready to go inside. Now here's the fun part: she went to the door we'd come through and clearly showed me she wanted to go back in. I told her she had to put the pinecones back first. So she did that with one, almost immediately, then wandered around before returning to the door. After my reminder that both pinecones had to go back in their basket, and not just one, she returned the second quickly. So, true to my word, we went back inside right away. Yep, that language is coming along. :D
City girl...
yeah, not so much. :)
Back inside, we found our way to a quiet, relatively secluded corner of the museum. She was getting tired and definitely overwhelmed by all the noises and sights. We found a nice little magnet wall that she got quite fixated on, and prettymuch stayed there for the last 15 or so minutes before it was time for lunch.
Once I'd shown her what to do, she proceeded to put up most of the rest of these herself.
Only one thing could have completely distracted her from those magnets: her favorite toy, balls. She was very frustrated with this station since she couldn't reach the balls being hovered in the air by that funnel. The little boy in the picture very sweetly gave them to her.
And from there we headed to lunch at the attached Cosi. It was much needed...Our little girls were tired! K's mama and I bet each other that our kid would be the first to fall asleep on the way home. She won...K was out by the time we got off the expressway, while Munch, for all that she was so grumpy after lunch, didn't go to sleep until about a half hour after I put her in her CRIB. Which goes to show why I never bet actual stuff, and just use the words. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment