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...

Longwood with Dr. Z

It's gross and rainy today. My friend Suzanne is visiting from Virginia. We needed something to do that would be fun for kids and for real people alike. Ding! Ding! Ding! Longwood! After a quick walk to the conservatory, you take off your coat and wander around inside for a few hours. Winner!

I took only my nice new lens that I got for my birthday (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and got some really nice shots with it. As seen below:

The new addition of the conservatory, and a single mum plant with almost 1,000 blooms on it.

The main conservatory and cool, spiral mum plants.

Small cute child checking out some flowers

He has, I believe, spotted a "saaaah." Or, as normal people call it, the American flag. Very exciting stuff.

Main conservatory. We'll come back in a few weeks for poinsettias and Christmas trees.

Suz the scientist - how'd they do that?

Fluffy white flowers - how'd they do that?

Flowers not so fluffy any more.

Awesome orchid this super friendly volunteer pointed out to us. He admired my camera lens, and scolded me for not having a filter on it yet to protect the lens. I know, I know. Bad me.

Loved this room. Til small child had large meltdown.

And there he goes - off to the Land of the Meltdown...

Fun water we were not allowed to touch

A few roses were in bloom

Suzanne LOOOOOVED the Orchid Room. It's my favorite place, too. Wish I had the patience to grow orchids in our house.

Somersaults, anyone? Dex says, why yes. Yes, I'd love to.

Nap, anyone? Dex says, why yes. Yes, I'd love to.

Ended up in the best garden ever created. Dex LOVES this place.

Thus far, dry. Did not last.

Cuz then we went here. And this happened. And the only bad thing about the cool new lens is that when you turn the flash off, it's not quite as quick as one would want. But it makes kind of a cool effect, anyway.

Oodles of giggles for the traveling water.

That is one hella cute child we created.

The obligatory "Why you gotta be taking my picture, Mom?" posed shot that never works, so why do I bother?

Speedy Fire Truck

My name is Speedy!

Can you see

why it's the perfect

name for me?

When a fire

needs putting out,

"We're on our way!"

the firemen shout.

Lights all flashing,

sirens blare.

Off I speed -

we'll soon be there.

Zoom-zoom-zooming

through the town.

Up the hill,

and then back down.

No time to lose -

connect the hose,

then raise my

ladder - up it goes.

To the rescue,

quick as a flash!

Squirt the water.

See it SPLASH!

HISS! go the flames,

as smoke blows away.

The fire is out -

hip hooray!

Whenever there's

an emergency...

There's no one

SPEEDIER than me!

The above are the actual words in a really, truly terrible book. I mean, Dex LOVES it. But it's about fire trucks, and the book itself has wheels. What's not to love? But, seriously? This is the worst jumble of words ever put together in five board book pages. Seconded only by its near cousin, Bumpy Tractor. Yes, we own that book, too.

It's been an educational week with our law enforcement friends this week. We attended a presentation about safety from a nice State Trooper, and learned that 1) Dex probably should turn around in his car seat cuz he is TOO DAMN TALL and that 2) our car seat was far too loose in our car. We fixed it.

And we learned from our nice local fire fighters today that 1) a new ladder truck costs about 2 million dollars and 2) smoke detectors have an expiration date. Like 10 years, or something. I obviously was listening very closely...

In other news, my Facebook updates have tended to be journals of the vast quantities of food Dexter has been eating the past couple weeks. Like the night he ate three pieces of pizza for dinner, and started on a fourth before he finally decided he was done. Or the day he ate three bananas at lunch, and followed that with 15 or so prunes at snack time (which, in hindsight, was not the best idea. The resulting poo explosion was... WOW). Or tonight, when about two thirds of a brand new jar (a 23 oz jar) of applesauce was consumed by one hungry child. Along with a hot dog. And half a hot dog roll. And some mac and cheese. I don't know where he puts it.

We're enjoying a brief return of late summer weather, which has been nice - we can go out to play after nap time, before it suddenly turns pitch-black at 4:45PM. I hate the time change.

Sounds of the House

It usually starts at 6AM or so. The tell-tale sound of feet thumping on a crib mattress. A little squawk. A cough. Still with the damn cough. When will we shake the cough? Some babbling. A few "hots" thrown in there for good measure. The vaporizer is "hot." Buddy grows restless downstairs. And we lie in bed trying to pretend it's not morning yet. At least not until the alarm goes off at 6:30.

The alarm. The Havre de Grace country music station. Bad DJ's with bad banter. Traffic every 10 minutes that really no longer affects our lives. Local news. Celebrity news. In the 20 minutes or so that I still lounge in bed, half-listening to the radio, John has gone to get the very awake child out of bed. He often ends up "sleeping" in bed with us - add in sounds of him pretending to sleep, along with a few "Blanket Monsters" from us, and hysterical giggles from Dex.

Then we're up and downstairs and the dog's nails are clicking on the kitchen floor and the child's footsteps sound like an elephant is in the house. Cars crash on the coffee table. Ball poppers pop. Sometimes I hear John reading a book as Dex has wandered up to him holding one up in the air, and no matter how late he is to work, John can never resist Dex asking him to read a book. OK, just this once.

We head out for a walk, me chattering non-stop, and panting a bit depending on how fast we are walking. The back pack keeps getting heavier for some reason. And after a walk the house comes alive again as we inevitably play with balls, and our voices echo off the driveway and I am sure the entire neighborhood can hear me shrieking "Go, go, go! Look out! Buddy's going to get you!"

If the house is lucky it's bath day and for 30 minutes or so we bang balls against the tub wall, splash like mad, and laugh our bare bottoms off.

And then, nap time. The sound of the ocean seeps through the house as everyone rests. Buddy snoozes at my feet, keeping me from putting them on the floor.

Another squawk and nap time is over. Room time commences, and over the baby monitor I hear the crash of a tall block tower falling, the counting of the turtle, and the siren of the fire truck. Occasionally a frustrated whine from Dex as a block has gone out of reach, but he quickly moves on to another toy, worries forgotten.

Back outside, yelling at Buddy to come back, more chasing balls. We giggle our way down the yard, running as Buddy chases us. Daddy comes home, we play in his car for a while. The blinkers click. The "dude, your lights are on" warning beeps. John asks if we should teach Dex how to use the horn.

Inside to make dinner. Whining from the child as he doesn't want to share his trucks with Daddy. Whining continues - ah, yes, the child is hungry.

Dinner is nice chat with John, and a fairly continual "Put your fork on the table. More melon? Take a bite, please. Yes, toast. Ooooh, a bunny!" banter with the child. Giggles as Daddy puts him on the ground after dinner and he gallops off to the next adventure.

I wash dishes, listening to the stacking of towers, the engines of cars, John chatting, Dex surely pointing away in the other room, telling Daddy exactly what needs to be done. At 7 I whisper in Dexter's ear, "Know what time it is? Time to give Daddy a hug!" And he gets a little smile on his face as he wanders over. John pretends not to see him. And Dex tackles him with a hug. We get a group family hug and a kiss, and then Mr. Pterodactyl appears and Dex screeches his way up the stairs as I wave wildly and blow him kisses. "Bye! Bye, I love you! Bye!"

I hear the thumping of little feet as John prepares his room for bed, and then all is quiet up there while John reads many books. As he comes down the stairs I hear the daily cry of protest. "Oh, no! Not bed time! Surely you don't mean I have to go to BED?" After a few seconds Dex quiets down, and we hear the occasional cough and thumping of the feet until he finally falls asleep. And then the sound of the ocean takes over again.

Next day, same start. THUMP! Whine. Cough. Babble babble. HOT.

Life sounds good.

Pictures for the Grandmas from Halloween night:

Waiting for trick-or-treaters

GO HOKIES!

The boys are playing together. Kind of.

Tractor driving on Daddy's leg

Awwww

The first trick-or-treaters arrive, and Dex had to get dressed for the night. First glimpse of him running in to the living room, after much protest while getting dressed. He seems none the worse for the wear.

CARS!

Pooh makes a tower

Upping the anti. Taller tower.

Pooh on a pony

Multi-tasking with pumpkin and blocks

We had maybe 75 kids come by Sunday night. Wasn't the same as in Havre de Grace - we had lots of older kids, who don't say trick or treat and rarely say thank you. The girls were all dressed in short short short skirts, and that's about it. John kept missing them, coming running down the hall as they left. "Oooh, what were they dressed as?" "Halloween sluts," I said, over and over.

Dex had fun, though, standing at the doorway watching kids and cars run up and down the road. Many people came up and immediately said "awwwww" when Pooh looked up at them.

We turned out the lights at 8:20. Not 30 seconds later the doorbell rang. Sorry, kids. Halloween ended at 8. Be on time. It's OUR candy now!