Dinosaur Freak-out

One of our favorite places to take little man is to the Chicago Children’s Museum.  He loves running around and playing with all the great exhibits there and it always seems to wear him out.  We had decided last spring to become members of the museum; it was cheaper that way and also gives us discounts at other museums.  Every time we go to the museum it’s amazing to see what Little Man is interested in this time since it seems to change as he grows.

The museum has several different rooms and we try to get little man into all of them.  The first couple of times we went he could care less about the fire display but this time he found it fun to play on the truck and we even put a fireman’s coat on him to play in.  This time he only wore the coat they did have boots, pants and helmets for the kids to wear but we figured it was enough with the coat.  He played there for some time and he probably could have played there the entire day but his Mimi and Auntie Jea Jea were with us and we wanted to make sure they saw the entire museum as well.

Up to the second floor we headed for more areas for him to play.  The water room is still one of his favorites and I must admit mine as well.  At the entrance to the Water room they have raincoats for the kids to put on before they go play.  I’m not sure why we take the time to put the raincoat on the best thing is just to bring a change of clothes since he always finds a way to get wet.  I think this room will always be fun for him since its fun for us.

Jame inside the shoe

The other rooms include the backyard room that has giant flowers and a big shoe to climb threw.  The backyard sort of reminds me of the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids.  They also have a city area with a car and a bus to play on and a toddler crawling area that used to be his favorite but he has outgrown that area.  The car and bus still get his attention since he loves cars and steering wheels so much.  The other room is an outdoor room that has a tree house and a river threw it and he still likes this room because he still has a chance to play in the little stream.



Fist visit to the Dino Dig



They also have a dinosaur dig room that is the reason I’m writing about our adventure at the museum.  In the past he has enjoyed the room you can go into the dinosaur pit and dig through the rubber mulch and uncover dinosaur bones.  The last few visits to the museum we have spent a lot of time in this room playing in the mulch and using the brushes they give to help on your dig.  In the past we have had to take him out of the room crying because he wanted to stay longer and play but, not this time.  We entered the room and he went right over to the archeology truck they had for kids to play on. I grabbed him and took him over to the entrance to the dig area when I noticed a bit of hesitation and sure enough Little Man freaked out as I tried to get him to go into the dig area.  We all had a good laugh but something had him freaked out.  Before long we discovered it was the rubber mulch for some reason he thought it was dirty and icky, oh boy now what to do normally one of his favorite places to play and he did not even want his shoes to touch the ground.  I did what every dad with my sense of humor would do I picked him up walk right into the middle of the pit and plunked him down walked away and had a good laugh.  Little Man screamed tried to run but the realized how much of it was around then stopped screamed some more until I had my good laugh and I picked him up and carried him out.  I think this was the first time he left the room without crying to go back in, he left and did not look back.  I thought it was kind of cruel to place him in the pit but his Mimi and Aunt Jea Jea carried some of the pieces out just to pull out later to get a reaction.