Adventures in Science

I've been waiting to go to the Museum of Science and Industry for months. It's a fun place to go at any time, but over the summer I got wind of a Jim Henson exhibit coming to town. (Excuse the child-like skip in my step. I love all things Muppets.) I have spent the last few months talking this exhibit up to friends and family, regardless of where they live. (Seriously, come to Chicago. We have the Muppets,for pete's sake!) My husband has been mocking me for weeks. Because we were not going to the Museum to have a fun day, we were going to see the Muppets. It's the only important thing, really. Unfortunately, the above photo is the only one I was allowed to take. No photography inside the actual exhibit. *sigh* But it is a fantastic exhibit, and I will be going back before it leaves in January. Probably without my Philistine husband, who shook his head as I sang the theme song to Fraggle Rock, and my unappreciative children, who looked at me like I was crazy as I oohed and aahed over the props from Dark Crystal. The Philistine was kind enough to take the children as I marveled over sketches and read through the handwritten notes. And then it was off to new sights.

The lobby of the main floor

Our next adventure was in the Science of Storms exhibit.Two stories of high tech wonder that lets children of all ages explore how some of the more intimidating natural events work. Avalanches, tornados, tsunamis, lightening, fires...this place lets you play with them all and more. It was a struggle sometimes to reign in my own inner voice that was screaming, "But it's my turn to try!" Which was, of course, the theme of my children's conversations for the day. It's hard to find that annoying when they are arguing over which hypothesis to test first, and actually using that term correctly. *Proud Mama Moment*



Tornado Alley




We really spent a lot of time in that exhibit. Prisms, rainbows, wavelengths, and water experiments are endlessly entertaining. Yes, I am that big of a dork. I love this stuff. Science discerns the Laws of Nature, but takes none of the wonder away. It is as amazing to see a tornado in miniature through experiments as it is to experience it in real life. Less fearful, but still amazing.



Finally, a pic where they weren't trying to 'shoot' one another with the balls.



We also got to visit the Smart Home, another exhibit that you can't take pics in. Not as exciting as the interactive exhibits, but very interesting all the same. There are some great strides being made in ecofriendly living, if only they could find a way to merge them with existing homes. There's just no easy way for our 1950's cookie cutter house to take advantage of some of the technology used in that house. Some of the other fun things to see, but a pain in the ass to photograph are the Fairy Castle - a gorgeous miniature with painstaking detail and a lovely story. Yesterday's Main Street gives you a short walk to a simpler time. And it has the added benefit of an old fashioned ice cream parlor. There is so much to see it's impossible to enjoy it all in one day. If we hadn't all been so exhausted, ok, if I hadn't been so exhausted, we would have hopped on the train again the next day to finish exploring it all. As it stands, we've promised the kids to go next weekend to see the Baby Chicks in the genetics exhibit. And to learn how to make a whisper travel through a room, and how to make toys, and...yeah, you get the picture.

I had fun going to see the Muppets. Next time, I'm going to see the Museum. The thought of it puts a child-like skip in my step.

Who told them they could grow up?

So, Abby's ready for earrings, and John...well John has discovered girls. Not that he didn't know they were there before. He came home with his first set of digits (phone numbers, people, not fingers!) when he was five. From a girl 2 years older than him. But I'm fairly certain he didn't ask for them. Something about big blue eyes with the kind of lashes that most women pay good money for seem to garner him attention. Not that he notices. Noticed. Now things have changed.

I'm jealous of those lashes!

So this week, I had a moment of panic, when he was 30 minutes late getting home from school. This is the first year he's gone to a school close enough for him to walk home. And he's old enough to want to walk without his mother. *gently dabs the tears away*  I get in the car, drive as far as the corner of our street, and there he is. Skipping. Grinning. Blushing bright red. I am relieved. Happy to see him. Mad that he is so frakkin' happy when he is in so much trouble.

After thoroughly startling the grin off his face, and telling him he needs to come straight home, I asked him just what kept him so long. And the grin sneaks back. He walked a girl home. One he's known since kindergarten, and who's had a crush on him for about as long. She lives closer to the school than we do, and in the opposite direction. But her mother didn't come to walk her home. Somehow that was brought to John's attention, and he just couldn't let her go by herself. Walking her home was the gentlemanly thing to do. And they aren't in the same class, or have the same recess...they miss each other. *facepalm* I am not ready for this.

Now it's not like I haven't had clues. He pretends to not watch anything that has to do with kissing. In a protest too much kind of way. And at fireworks this summer, he was pretending the explosions were alien missiles, along with a few kids near us. When I told them to settle down and watch the show, he inched next to one of the girls. A moment later came the most startling thing I could have heard. "Y'know, if the aliens are coming, we should be prepared for the worst. Or at least hold hands."
O_o
Excuse me?
I don't know what's worse. Hearing that from my 9 year old, or the fact that it WORKED! Someone needs to talk to that girl. I have to deal with Cassanova. I prefer the days of unasked for phone numbers.

A day at the doctor with my daughter

Well, actually, it was the Nurse Practitioners, but that wrecks the alliteration.

I usually have no problems with this place. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. So I go there for the easy things, like school physicals. I think there was one year with John that they got a bit backed up and it took almost an hour, but today...today I was horribly disappointed and irritated by the way things were being done.

They decided to try an assembly line tactic, with a nurse manning each station, and two nurse practitioners for the examinations, which take a bit longer. And it all went really well. Except at one station, where the nurse seemed to think that 3 - 5 minute task at hand should take a minimum of 10 minutes, and that it would be a good idea to chatter at her co-workers, who were WITH PATIENTS, in between dealing with her own patients. So a process that has never before taken more than 50 minutes, from check-in to walking out, took 3 hours.

Thank the powers that be that it was an appointment for Abby and not John. He would have been climbing the walls after the first hour, and pulling them down out of boredom by the second. Abby-girl, however, decided to turn on the charm. (Which explains how she got crayons, a coloring book and a couple of lollipops BEFORE she got to the shots.) As the nurses waited  for (and subtlely prodded) their errant coworker to pick up the pace, Abby coyly answered questions, playing shy at first and then showing off as time went by. She made up great descriptions for the pictures on the eye tests. There's a heart, a leedle heart and teeny baby heart, a couple of moon looking shapes, and the thing that you use to make vampires go away. (That's my girl.) And that's not a diamond. Those sparkle. It's a square on its corner. (Lord help whoever dates her.) She bravely handled the finger stick and blood draw for the lead test, and shed no tears over getting her shots. In fact, afterward she told me she knows she's ready to get her ears pierced because the needles don't bother her. The nurses found that hysterical. I did too, if only because I knew what her father's reaction is to her getting her ears pierced...

She's already plotting how to get his permission. *grin* Any bets on whether she gets them for her birthday in January?