Strong Museum

In a new effort to convince some of our out-of-town friends to come visit us (Melody, Laurie, Heidi), I've decided to post about our wonderful children's museum. Apart from saving my sanity this winter, after Adam learned to walk, it's just a super-cool place. One of my favorite parts is the grocery store. It comes complete with miniature carts and shelves stocked with real food for the kids to "buy". Some of the packages have been emptied and the fruit and meat are fake (thank goodness), but they are "good fake", not the stuff you get from Fisher Price.

I love that the cash registers are real. Adam loves pushing the buttons and watching the conveyor belt move.


I know he doesn't really "get" the whole "shopping" thing yet, but he still manages to spend a good 45 minutes wandering around having a great time.


He loves filling his basket with the fruit and vegetables, especially anything shaped like a ball.


Don't all those vegetables look so real?

Besides the grocery store, there are about 10 other areas that Adam has to visit every time we go. They have a huge train table that he loves located (conveniently) next to the $0.75 train ride. There are two "sand" boxes. They are actually filled with little plastic beads. Every time we come home little beads randomly fall out of his clothing throughout the day.

They also have an entire Sesame Street area, the highlight of which is "Elmo's World". You can actually stand in front of a green screen and be on T.V. with Elmo. There's also the full-size (okay, maybe European full-size) taxi cab that the kids can get in (Elmo and Dorothy are in the backseat).

I could go on and on. I've maybe described a tiny fraction of the activities available. So, we don't have a lot to offer in Rochester, but we have a great children's museum, a mediocre zoo and pageant in the summer time. So, come see us!

Thanks Joanna!

My friend Joanna dropped off a belated birthday gift for Adam. She does custom embroidery and makes beautiful bibs, burp cloths and blankets.


She found this bag at Target and thought of Adam. She embroidered his name on it.


I think it's safe to say that Adam loves it.


I think we will use it as a church bag. I think Scott will appreciate not having to carry my Vera Bradley bag around.

Oh the Places You'll Go!

We've had beautiful weather in Rochester this last week. It has given us a glimpse of what summer will be like, and I think Adam's going to like it. It will be so fun to spend our days at the pool, the park and the zoo.


Adam loves being "out" and stands at the front door waiting if I even mention the word "go".

He is having such a fun time discovering nature and is getting filthy (and gloriously happy) in the process.

We have a bird feeder out this window and Adam will stand there watching them eat. Of course, frog boots are a necessary accessory for any serious bird watcher.

Hello Beautiful

I know there are women out there who would be offended if there husband gave them a vacuum for Mother's Day; I'm not one of them. We had our last vacuum for 10 years and the only part that still worked was the hose attachment. Try vacuuming a room just using the hose!

We've been watching for deals on a Dyson for a while now. We finally found a good deal by price matching to Linens 'n' Things and using a 20% off coupon.

I've been vacuuming all day. I love seeing all the stuff it picks up. I've even vacuumed my furniture. I know, I need to get a life.

Update

We have an appointment with a pediatric allergist on May 1st. That was the soonest they could get us in, which I think is a little crazy. Meanwhile, I need to sit down and figure out the EpiPen.

Just so you know, Adam has returned to his pre-Sloth self and is as beautiful as ever. Oh, how we love this boy.

We Knew This Day Would Come

We've always known that Adam was the kind of kid who would see the inside of the Emergency Department several times in his childhood. We always assumed it would be for a concussion or broken bones. Well, this visit had nothing to do with his lack of danger awareness. Let me explain.


We had the missionaries over for dinner and we were eating and chatting when Adam began to cough. He coughed quite a bit and then threw up. Scott and I assumed the coughing had caused him to throw up. We cleaned him up and got him out of his highchair since he didn't seem interested in eating anymore (nobody did). When I was getting him out of his highchair I noticed a bump on his eyelid, it looked like a spider bite. Scott took him to his playroom so we could finish dinner. A couple of minutes later he called from the other room to say that it was getting worse. This is what our beautiful son normally looks like:


This is how he looked after about 5 minutes:


We still weren't too concerned as Adam is known to break out into an occasional rash, but this was fast. I called our pediatrician's after hours number and the nurse said we should take him to the E.R. At this point he looked like this:




So, yeah, she didn't need to tell me twice. It wasn't just the rash, he was drooling profusely, as you can see on his shirt. While we were driving to the E.R. I couldn't help but laugh when I looked back at him. I realized after a few minutes what he reminded me of:


I would like to point out at this juncture in the story that Adam, apart from his appearance, was completely unaffected by all of this. He couldn't have cared less. I say this lest you think I was laughing at my child while he is gasping for air and crying in pain.

Anyway, we got to the hospital and endured all of the gasps as we walked past other patients. I guess it's both good and bad when you don't have to wait at the E.R. despite a room full of other sick kids. They immediately whisked Adam to a room and gave him an epinephrine shot, a dose of Benedryl and a dose of Pregnezone.

After giving him all of that, they wanted to monitor his heart rate for a couple of hours. Adam didn't mind waiting as long as they kept giving him Pedialyte in a bottle. We didn't leave the hospital until 10 p.m.

Adam is now the proud owner of an EpiPen and we have to make an appointment with the allergist, as the E.R. doctor said, "sooner rather than later."

Good times, good times...

Baltimore Children's Museum

Alas, this will be the last of my Baltimore posts. I know you all want to know more about my exotic vacation, but I can only do so much. I lead a very exciting life and don't have the time to fill in all the thrilling details. Sorry, I know you're disappointed.

Aaaanyway. We stayed right at the inner harbor and were only a few blocks from the children's museum. Adam and I checked it out and, I have to say, if you live in Rochester and have a membership to Strong Museum, you're not missing much. It wasn't as clean or as well maintained as Strong Museum. The other problem was that all of the Baltimore kids were on Spring break, so the place was packed! Poor Adam got trampled several times by gaggles of children sprinting through the place. They literally knocked him over and didn't. even. look. back.


So, I asked one of the employees if there was a place for small children where there lives and well being would be safe and she pointed me in the direction of this room. It was...okay. There was a ball pit, which Adam loved, and a little jungle gym. But other than that there were only some old books and dirty toys that were missing pieces.


Plus the fact that this room was supposed to be for kids 4 and under but parents who had older children brought them too, so Adam's well being wasn't quite as safe as I'd hoped. So, I feel like my $11 admission (Adam was free) was a waste of money. Adam was only entertained in the playroom for about 45 minutes before he went to the door and started asking for "up".

It was, however, an exercise in gratitude. I often take Strong Museum for granted. It has saved my sanity countless days by endlessly entertaining my child. For those of you who don't know Strong Museum, check out the link. I will have to post about it sometime, Heaven knows I have about a thousand pictures. I mean, they have an entire grocery store with everything from grocery carts to cash registers (REAL cash registers) and conveyor belts, all kid size. The cash registers print actual receipts, the place is amazing. Granted, Adam thinks the grapefruits are "balls" and tries to bounce them, but he'll get the idea someday and love it.

*Edit: My friend Joanna just posted about the museum. Check it out.