Little Boy, Big Museum

All of our kids enjoy museums, but it's a different type of enjoyment for Thomas. The rest of us have fun on days like this, especially spending time with friends. Thomas, on the other hand, is our home-body. He would rather be at home than most other places. But the museum is one of those places that makes him gladly leave his comfort zone!

But visiting a museum or zoo with Thomas is intense. He has strong opinions about animals...which ones he wants to see, in what order he wants to see them, what information he wants to read about them, and there's always some kind of situation he gets fixated on, relating to the animals he does or doesn't get to see on that visit. This time he was insistent that there was an American Crocodile in the wildlife exhibit. We found an American Alligator and an African Crocodile, but it took a good 30 minutes of him circling the exhibits and then me stopping a docent in the middle of a tour to confirm with him that there was not an American Crocodile there!

With Katie Grace in the mix, it makes things a bit tricky. KG is getting tired of her stroller at any location these days, and of course she was not wanting to be strapped in there while also being forced into a room with huge dinosaur bones and then one with huge stuffed wildlife creatures. "I (s)cared!" She was constantly going one way while T was going the other way. Finally some friends found us in the wildlife area and were able to help me keep an eye on Katie so I could help Thomas through his crocodile concerns.

After lunch, we had a scheduled tour of the Our Lady of Guadalupe exhibit with all the children. It was beautiful and informative. I thought Thomas would lose interest quickly, but actually he followed the docent around and kept raising his hand to ask or tell her different things like where Jesus was born. My little evangelizing 5 year-old!

Although the two little ones are pretty high-maintenance these days, and we had to brave a rainstorm to get there for the big kids' science classes, we did have a nice day at the museum and can't wait until next month! This has been a special treat, to finally be able to register for these museum classes which our friends have taken for years. Just one of many things I am so thankful for this year.