Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Children's Museum

Mr. Hunt and I decided to take Jane to the newly opened Children's Museum here in Austin, The Thinkery. I actually used to work at the Children's Museum in Columbia SC when I was in college, it was so fun!

Since I had worked at a children's museum prior, I knew that they are usually geared toward older kids (older than Jane at least). I also looked at their website and saw that there were specific times you could bring your 24 month and younger child, but we decided to go at our own time and just see what there was. After all, Jane loves people watching....specifically other kid watching. She could sit in a stroller (as long as its constantly moving) and watch other people for hours (OK, maybe only like 30 minutes before she gets antsy).


Speaking of antsy, I'm pretty sure I have the antsiest (is that a word) child in the world. When we got there right at opening, there was a long line because apparently the first 500 children to show up that day got in free. Since Jane is only 14 months old, she already got to get in free so it was nothing special for us. Anyway, all the other children, even kids her age, were all either standing patiently by their parents, or in a stroller chillin. Our child on the other hand was fidgeting and eventually screaming to get out of the stroller, and I know way too well that she doesn't just stand quietly next to us. So Mr. Hunt got her out and they ran around in the front lawn for about 30 minutes while I waited in line. I was starting to think she was going to be too worn out by the time we got into the building.


Let me also say that I was a little worried about this because any and every time I let Jane "do her own thing" she doesnt just sit and play in one spot, she would rather just run around so I was worried that once I let her go inside, it was just going to be me and Mr. Hunt just chasing her inside. So once we got in I went straight to the first thing I saw that might be something in her age group. It was a boxed in area that she couldn't get out of and she could play with a bunch of toys in it. Mr. Hunt and I thought it was great because she obviously couldn't run away.

After she was in there for a few minutes, we realized she was probably too big to be in there. There was another baby in there that couldn't walk yet and Jane was trying to play with him as well as went right over to him and open mouthed kissed him. We decided that we needed to find another fun spot.

The next spot we went to was this....


Just a bunch of pegs that would light up when you put them in the holes. Jane was more interested in taking the pegs out and throwing them on the floor, but she liked how they glowed too. 


She also loved herself in the mirror as usual. She kissed herself. 


We went to another area which was like a house where kids could pretend, but I didn't get many pictures. There wasn't much in there that Jane could play with which ended up her just running around which I expected. There was another little girl Jane's age in there and she LOVED Jane. She came over and gave Jane the biggest hug which ended up with them both falling to the floor in an embrace. Kind of funny, but it scared Jane a little bit.

Jane's favorite spot and the spot that she stood still the most was this water area. I read online about this and it said to bring an extra pair of clothes because they would get really wet. They also had these cute aprons. Jane's was just long enough. haha!


Jane loves playing in the dog water bowl so this was better!



She just did her own thing in here and it was so cute. I kept telling Mr. Hunt how surprised I was that she was standing still to play.


 She was watching the older kids and then trying to copy them. I could also tell that even though it wasn't her nap time yet, she was getting sleepy. Must have been all the running around before we even got in the building.


One last place we went was for kids her age. We had to take out shoes off and it was a gated area for her to run around in. She did bump her head in that area about three times which kept making her cry for a few seconds. I think that area was more for crawlers and Jane doenst crawl anymore so when she would try to stand up in areas, she would bump her head.

All in all it was a fun time and we are definitely going to go back. We learned that Jane is VERY independent. She didn't ONCE look for Mr. Hunt or I the entire time we were there. We could have dropped her off and she would have done her own thing. Even when she bumped her head, she would just cry a few seconds and go on to the next thing.

Its sad because I kind of want her to want me, or want her to want me to play with her. Its also scary because when she gets older, I hope she doesn't just walk off and get lost not realizing or caring where her parents are. But on the other hand I guess its good for her to be independent. She likes learning things on her own and making friends so that's good.

I recommend going to your nearest children's museum one weekend. Its so fun!

Love,
JRH

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