Look at Us, Doing Something Outside Our House

When Nathan was about two, we used to go everywhere.  Zoos, museums, parks--you name it, and we were probably there at least twice a week.  Two years old was that perfect sweet spot where he was old enough to be entertained by various kids' activities, but not so old that he was too busy with school and other activities.  Also for the first time in my parenting career I was neither depressed nor working, so I wanted to take advantage of my new-found energy and free time and go everywhere that Chicagoland had to offer for kids.

But then about a year ago things got busier for us, and we just didn't go as many places as we used to.  Nathan started going to school Tuesday and Thursday, and then I signed him up for the supplemental preschool at the high school Monday and Friday.  And even when we did have time to go somewhere, I felt he was too overwhelmed from his other programs and needed a quiet break from stimulation.

Which, honestly, is fine.  Obviously a small child cannot handle that much stimulation and activity, and besides I want him to be able to entertain himself with simple, at-home activities.  Now that he's old enough to participate in preschool and various extracurricular activities, those take the place of the old field trips we used to take, enrichment-wise.

Also this summer I started doing freelance work, and we just can't be jetting off to fabulous locales at the pace we used to.  And, again, while it's challenging to keep Nathan entertained while I work, it's mostly good for him to practice having to entertain himself with the (vast quantity of) toys he has at home.

But sometimes I still feel that urge to get out and do something completely different.  We're in Week 2 of 3 of a particularly boring spell, because it's that "stuck between summer and fall" sort of period.  Bill's classes have started again, so he's gone more, but Nathan's preschool doesn't start until after Labor Day.  Most of his friends have started school, so there's nobody to play with.  The gym daycare has very limited hours during the month of August.  And I have some major work deadlines, but my new babysitting arrangement doesn't start until September 8.  There seems to be very little structure to our days, which honestly makes it surprisingly exhausting to try to make it through the day and keep everybody entertained and deal with various personal, professional, and household responsibilities.

I haven't felt like going to the gym, even when the daycare is open.  And making dinner?  Why would anybody do that?!  Laundry?  Whatever.  Hey, Nathan, you wanna watch that Wow, Wow, Wubzy DVD again? 

Obviously I'm in a bit of a rut.  And yesterday I just got that feeling that it was time to shake things up.

And what better place to shake things up than Northwest Indiana?

No, but seriously, we only live about 12 minutes from the Indiana border, and Bellaboo's Play and Discovery Center in Lake Station, Indiana is, in my opinion, the gold standard for children's museums.  It has all the typical hands-on children's museum stations (your water room, your construction area), plus a giant indoor jungle gym with a ball pit.  It's everything you need to wear your child out give your child an enriching afternoon of play-based learning that incorporates both large- and small-motor skills. Plus every day they have extra activities like cooking classes and gardening activities, which are included in the price of admission.

So, yesterday we went to Bellaboo's.  Against all odds, we arrived before the place even opened.  Yesterday was one of those days that happens about once a month around here, where Nathan randomly wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and never goes back to sleep.  So we were up very early.  The 9:00 departure time felt like practically lunchtime.

Anyway, we were early, and the museum hadn't opened yet.  We had about 15 minutes to wander around the lake next to the museum. 

Now, I should note that at this early point in the day, I discovered my camera battery was dead.  So all the pictures are from my cell phone.  Still, we had wonderful light and scenery to work with outdoors, so I think these next two pictures came out well:

He can never just stand still and pose.  He has to come at you, charging. 

This picture is quirky, but I like it.  He loves to pick dandelions and give them to me, telling me that I should put them in a jar of water at home.  Except ... we weren't going home for another six hours, and also?  It's a weed.  So then I show legitimate gratefulness for the gesture, and then discreetly drop the dandelion on the ground. 

This was right before he stepped in gross swampy water and we had to spend the next ten minutes in the car holding his shoes in front of the air conditioner vents.  

Finally, with dry-ish shoes on Nathan's feet, we went to the museum.  First stop: the ball pit, which I think makes a fantastic photo backdrop.  But of course Nathan was too quick for my cell phone camera, so I just took a picture of the empty ball pit: 

There, now you know what a ball pit looks like.  In case you never visited a Chuck E. Cheese's in the 1980s. 

Blurry view of the awesome fort we built in the construction area:

He was adamant that the fort fully hide his entire body, but unfortunately we ran out of blocks.  So you can still see his hands:

Oh, and you guys?  Outside they were constructing a new dinosaur dig play area!  It looks like it is going to be super cute!  Here's a photo of our pretend construction with the real construction workers in the background:

 

No, I did not take this photo because I wanted a topless picture of that one guy on the left. 

We then covered up the gap in the fort with some florescent safety vests:

Water room photo, blurry as all hell:

I thought this next activity was fun: Painting your name on the windows in the art room:

The cooking activity of the day was putting frosting and sprinkles on a chocolate-chip cookie.  So, you know, a health food:

And then, the activity we'd been waiting for ... Stuffee!  Stuffee is a large stuffed animal with a zipper, and when you unzip the zipper, he has various organs stuffed inside.  They only take him out on Thursdays at 1:30, and Nathan has been asking for months when we can go and see Stuffee. 

Nathan after just listening to Stuffee's heart.

Nathan's turn to pull out an organ.  He picked the heart.  

Following Stuffee's organ harvest, the museum employee led a discussion about what makes your heart beat faster.  After discussing exercise, she invited the kids to come up and take turns bouncing on a small trampoline to make their hearts beat faster.  A group of kids under 5 + a trampoline = chaos.  And at one point Nathan became frustrated that this little kid, who could not have been more than two, was taking too long on the trampoline, so he shoved the kid off.  And the kid did a full 360-degree tumble off the trampoline and onto the floor.  A room full of parents and caregivers gasped.  Oh yay. 

I whisked Nathan out of the Stuffee room and over to the concession area, where it was time for a time-out.  Here's the thing, though: Nathan does not handle time-outs well. He gets so mad.  Which might be kind of a good thing, because at least I know it's an effective punishment, but it also tends to escalate matters.  Now he was all Go away!  I don't want to see you!

I didn't want the fun outing to end on a sad note, especially over the activity Nathan was eagerly anticipating for months, so eventually I got him calmed down and he played some more in the playground.  Then we did the "Little Diggers" activity where he learned about gardening and planted a seed.  He was perfectly lovely and pleasant for that activity.  

That was the end of our outing.  We stopped at the chocolate and gummi bear factory on the way home.  

It was an exhausting day, but it was fun to do something different for a change.  I'm feeling like we need to get back into day trips as much as possible this year. While of course I want to do activities for my child's personal enrichment, and for parental bonding, and because this is the last year he won't be in school full-time, I admit that my interests in educational field trips are largely motivated by the fact that our local public school system asks parents of incoming kindergarteners to complete a checklist indicating which local museums and other venues your child has visited.  Now, I'm sure this checklist is not used in any sort of evaluation/placement capacity, and in truth it's likely that nobody ever looks at the form, except maybe for the purpose of planning field trips.  But, given my overall annoying competitive nature, I of course view this particular checklist as some sort of test of my parenting skills.  And while Nathan has been to most of the museums, it's not likely he'll remember, say, that trip to the Field Museum when he was two.  (Though he will fondly recall his time wearing the space suit and exploring the space area at the "sanitarium.")  So, this year we're going to hit all the museums again, I swear.  Because, dammit, I am going to rock that parental evaluation random supplemental enrollment form.