Touch me. Please. No, really. Go ahead.

A couple weeks ago someone from my new Mom's group posted an email about a special on annual memberships at the Please Touch Museum in Philly. I'd never been, and couldn't find anyone who HAD been and could tell me if a 21 month old, fairly shy kid would enjoy going there for a year. Nor could anyone tell me if driving to Philly was going to really really suck. BUT a bunch of moms from my OLD Mom's group had a trip planned there for today. And while I originally said "NO way am I going to pay $30 plus parking to go to this place for a few hours" I decided we'd go, try it out, and if it wasn't a disaster we'd buy an annual pass. Our admission for today would count toward the annual pass, if all worked out as planned.

So how'd it go? Mixed reviews from us, really. The drive sucks. I mean, Rt 1 SUCKS just in general, and when you get close to Philly there's about eleventy-billion traffic lights and to get to the museum you drive through some fairly unsavory parts of town. On the way home I tried taking the interstate to Rt 1, which was longer but an improvement. So - it's a sucky drive, and it takes about an hour and 15 minutes, but it's do-able.

And the shy child? Thought things were cool, in theory. Some things, in practice, were FAR too scary. Like a bus. So random. This kid LOVES buses. Would not go near the bus. Cried when I carried him through it to go to the bathroom. Would not go in a car. LOVES going in John's car to play. Would not play with balls floating in the air over cool blowers. But was perfectly happy to put all the balls back in the box. Loved the water. Loved the floor piano. Enjoyed looking at the carousel, but I'd guess that if he actually were made to RIDE the carousel he'd freak out. Like, a lot.

So, it was a mixed bag. But it was fun enough that we went ahead and bought a pass. Hey, in a year he'll be another year older. And perhaps things will not be nearly so scary. Plus, we never saw the train exhibit. And one really, really must see the train.

Oh, so we drove to Philly like this:

When we saw the State Trooper last week he said that Dex was looking cramped in his backwards car seat - his legs were in his chest. When we tightened his car seat, pulling it closer to the car's seat back, it made it even more cramped for him. So I flipped him around before we went to Longwood on Tuesday. It went... not well at first. I put him in the car and he freaked, shaking his head NO NO NO. He screamed until I got in the front seat and started the car and opened the garage door and backed out. And then he was all, "Hey! This is COOL! I can SEE! And stuff." And there's been no issue ever since.

Driving. Most excellent. Dex was way excited about the car room. He went running for it.

Making feathers fly. Awesome. You can drive a steering wheel AND watch feathers fly at the same time.

Shopping was the most fun of the day. As was putting away all our groceries. Dex impressed me by knowing where all his fake fruit went, without me having to tell him.

How do I transfer this to home, with a real vacuum?

Hmmmmm - wonder if this video link will work...