Children's Museum...

Today we took Alexander to the Children's Museum. This way we could get out of the house & enjoy the nice weather and take him to the Curious George exhibit they were holding. We didn't tell him where we were going until we got in the car and once he found out he was pretty excited. Of course, once there we had to get pictures in front of the legendary Hood milk bottle...but he was a bit preoccupied with the pigeons that were walking around.Once inside, he had a blast. He was playing with the golf balls, going down slides and taking everything in! He was so excited about a circular tube where golf balls traveled down, he could have stood there for hours!
After the first floor, we ventured up to the second floor where there was a "Peep & the big wide world" exhibit. This is a show on PBS that Alexander has never really been into (although Mommy thinks it's pretty cute), except for the fact that this morning he actually wanted to watch a bit while still in bed. So it was cute when he saw Peep at the exhibit.Then we headed over to the health section where he got to see some doctor stuff where he was excited but kept asking to see dentist gloves. After that we headed over to the workshop where he got to put on some work gloves and use a saw. Daddy checked it out and said it was safe to use...
And then how could we resist...
It was time to play basketball & watch Daddy climb the wall...Ooooh, then Alexander found a room with a huge train set! He was so excited...little guy could have played trains for hours because no one was bothering him. Plus he got to get inside the trainset through a whole...Then we headed over to the Curious George exhibit. It was pretty busy in here (so this is where everyone was)...Alexander went down a slide, and got to say hi to George, but he was angry that George wasn't talking like he does on the show. And as we're checking things out, there was a section of foam blocks to move around on a belt. Alexander was stacking them, and we were looking at the belt. Then all of a sudden, we looked down and Alexander was GONE. GONE. I did a quick scan, Daddy did a quick scan and then I told Daddy to start looking - he went one way, I went the other. And of course every little boy was wearing a red shirt so it wasn't making it easy to find him.

I truly had my "lifetime-movie-of-the-week" panic moment. Everyone kept on their merry way and I had lost my little boy. I was quickly freaking out. I couldn't find him no matter where I looked. Now I couldn't find Daddy. Then I went to stand at the entrance of the exhibit...I didn't want to leave the exhibit in case he was still there and couldn't find us, but I wanted to look down the hall. Just then I saw Daddy walking towards me carrying Alexander. Huge sigh of relief...

I took Alexander from Daddy and we took him to a corner with benches. We told him, sternly, how important it is not to run away because he scares Mommy & Daddy & he started to cry. It was the worst 60 seconds and unfortunately I still don't think Alexander quite understands why he should not run away even though he can say it to you, I don't think he understands.

We then headed over to the Construction Zone so we could gather our heart rates again. He saw a bobcat and wanted to sit in that and drive it. He had to take turns which he was good the first time but the second time he was getting antsy.
Before he headed out, we went over to another little area where he could climb ropes, walk up a steep hill using stepping stones and then walk down a bumpy area using the ropes to help him. He did an excellent job and did every single one on his own. It was pretty amazing watching him and how he knew what to do.
Next time I'm bringing a harness & a collar with a bell...