Rachel loves dinosaur-ish animals, we found out today at the Bean Museum. We went for our playgroup. Heather has it all nicely organized so that we go to someone's house every other week and do a fun activity on the off weeks. We go to the library for story time one of the weeks and since this was an off week, we headed to the Bean Museum. It's free and entertains children for hours!
Soon after we arrived there was a reptile show. Rachel was drooling--partly because that's just what she does, and partly because she thought the reptiles were rather amazing.
Rachel giving a nice "Ooh!" for the reptiles
She didn't think the turtle was too cool when that was brought around but she almost scared the iguana to death. Perhaps not, but at any rate, I think she gave it a pretty good scare. The animal handler reminded us to touch the animals on the back and to leave their faces alone. I didn't really want Rachel to touch the reptiles since she tends to go straight from touching something to sucking on her hands, so I tried to sit as far back as I could.
The animal handler, seeing that we were a little far back, brought the iguana right up to Rachel and she almost fell out of my lap, squealing with pleasure as she grabbed the iguana's face. Eyes tend to be her target these days, be it human or reptile.
Oddly enough she wasn't too interested in the snake, which the animal handler brought to us way in back in the room where I was trying to keep Rachel from sticking her hands in her mouth until we could find a restroom.
"Bet this little one wants to touch it," he said hopefully, having just passed over a bunch of little girls who shrieked and shrunk away.
Rachel and I didn't shrink away but Rachel didn't get quite as excited about the snake as she had for the iguana.
After the reptile show we wandered around for a bit more. Rachel liked quite a few animals, giving them more of her attention than others.
The animal handler, seeing that we were a little far back, brought the iguana right up to Rachel and she almost fell out of my lap, squealing with pleasure as she grabbed the iguana's face. Eyes tend to be her target these days, be it human or reptile.
Oddly enough she wasn't too interested in the snake, which the animal handler brought to us way in back in the room where I was trying to keep Rachel from sticking her hands in her mouth until we could find a restroom.
"Bet this little one wants to touch it," he said hopefully, having just passed over a bunch of little girls who shrieked and shrunk away.
Rachel and I didn't shrink away but Rachel didn't get quite as excited about the snake as she had for the iguana.
After the reptile show we wandered around for a bit more. Rachel liked quite a few animals, giving them more of her attention than others.
Rachel stares at a, uh, monkey...of sorts (very technical term, I know)
Nothing caught her attention quite like the crocodile we found upstairs--a Nile croc, this one. She was fascinated. She plastered herself up against the glass barrier and started talking to the gater and would occasionally turn around and smile at me. When I tried to take her away from it she would whine until I put her back in front. We stayed there for probably five minutes--which is a pretty long time in "baby hours."
She obviously liked it a lot. Andrew is very excited by this find because he thinks it means she'll want to play with boyish toys. That would be fine with me. I often played dinosaurs, cars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my brothers. I don't see why Rachel couldn't do the same with her brothers (or just with dad since she hasn't got any brothers at the moment).
To conclude our visit, we went to see the liger because what would a trip to the Bean Museum be without a visit to Shasta the Liger?
When we had taken a gander at every available animal, Rachel and I headed down to the library to visit Grammy at work. Rachel liked looking at all the books and papers almost as much as she enjoyed looking at the animals. She enjoyed all the attention she got from mom's coworkers and students even more. Rachel would probably have more fun as an exhibit in a zoo than as a spectator at this point. She does love attention.
All too soon we had to bundle back up and meet Daddy after his Italian class. Rachel wasn't too fond of the idea but we got her all zipped up and tucked in and headed back outside. Andrew's class was in the JKB. It looks so nice now that it's been remodeled--I hardly recognized it. It's still rather maze-like but is a lot less dungeon-esque.
Rachel was excited to see Daddy so early in the day. It was just for a little while but she was so happy. And I was happy, too, because she fell asleep in the car seat on the way home so after Daddy dropped us off at home, Mommy got to have a little nap (I was pretty tired from pushing Rachel around campus and carrying her around the museum all day long).
She obviously liked it a lot. Andrew is very excited by this find because he thinks it means she'll want to play with boyish toys. That would be fine with me. I often played dinosaurs, cars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my brothers. I don't see why Rachel couldn't do the same with her brothers (or just with dad since she hasn't got any brothers at the moment).
To conclude our visit, we went to see the liger because what would a trip to the Bean Museum be without a visit to Shasta the Liger?
When we had taken a gander at every available animal, Rachel and I headed down to the library to visit Grammy at work. Rachel liked looking at all the books and papers almost as much as she enjoyed looking at the animals. She enjoyed all the attention she got from mom's coworkers and students even more. Rachel would probably have more fun as an exhibit in a zoo than as a spectator at this point. She does love attention.
All too soon we had to bundle back up and meet Daddy after his Italian class. Rachel wasn't too fond of the idea but we got her all zipped up and tucked in and headed back outside. Andrew's class was in the JKB. It looks so nice now that it's been remodeled--I hardly recognized it. It's still rather maze-like but is a lot less dungeon-esque.
Rachel was excited to see Daddy so early in the day. It was just for a little while but she was so happy. And I was happy, too, because she fell asleep in the car seat on the way home so after Daddy dropped us off at home, Mommy got to have a little nap (I was pretty tired from pushing Rachel around campus and carrying her around the museum all day long).
I am glad that you made it to the Museum. Sorry we couldn't make it. I am still scared of Maggie getting any worse. She is doing a lot better but I won't feel like she is entirely over being sick until she sees the doctor again which is on Tuesday. I will have to take my kids to the museum some other day! Hopefully we will be able to make more playgroups when we are all better.
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