When My Kids Run Around in the London Science Museum

I'm going to be honest here and just call this post what it is.  I wish I could say that this is a post about the Science Museum, but it's not.  (Well, kind of. I only kind of wish that.)  The reality is that we went to this great museum a few weeks ago that was busy, but not completely packed like some London exhibits are, and we decided ahead of time that we were going to let the kids run around and explore without abandon.  This basically meant that Chris and I didn't really get to look at much of anything ourselves, which was okay.  But that's why this post isn't really much about the museum itself.  Maybe another time.

We headed down on the tube, our first tube trip, and it was a breeze.  I still cannot get over how easy it is to travel around London.

The end of this tube line is by 4 different museums.  You walk through this (incredibly cool) underground tunnel, and when you come to the museum that you want, you just go up the stairs and go in.  Really, it was so cool.  Pictures of that next time, for sure.

Chris took Jayce duty and I took Hannah duty, which basically meant that I was the chaser.  

But not in a bad way, like she was running away from me the whole time.  I just let her run and made sure that I was a little bit behind her every step of the way.  I couldn't take my eyes off of her so I couldn't stop for pictures of anything, and rarely got pictures of her that weren't her from this angle.  But it was okay with me, really, because her unending enthusiasm paired with her pigtails and floral denim leggings, she was having a particularly adorable day.

The Science Museum was a real hit with her, because the first floor was entirely transportation-based, and she couldn't get enough.  Her head was on a swivel and she would yell, "Airplane!  Rocket!  Vroom! (car)" over and over.  

There was a space exhibit with an astronaut suit, among other things, and she saw it and yelled, "Oc-not!" (like the Octonauts) and then started humming the Octonauts theme song.  She was loving it every step of the way: running, trying to touch things that were behind glass windows, and then turning in another direction and running again.  

(Oh wait, here is a picture of something else.  It was Apollo…something.  There was a sign, but I didn't read it.)

We eventually headed down to the designated kids' area, which was fine, but just very "kids area-ish."  

There was nothing in there that was cooler than what was going on on the other floors, but it's always nice to have a little area where the kids are supposed to be touching and climbing everything around them.

There was a little tray for the kids to build on and then turn a crank to simulate an earthquake that knocked everything down.  Chris did it once, and then Hannah started building her towers outside of the tray where they were safe.  Smart cookie.

The kids area was pretty congested so we didn't hang around in there for very long.  Plus there were still 3 more floors to check out.

The best part about this museum was that it was so hands on.  Even if the kids didn't really understand what they were doing or looking at, it was still very engaging and interesting. 

The peanut didn't even make it to the end of the block once she was strapped into the stroller.  Playing hard=sleeping hard, and that is half of the goal, right?  We climbed onto a bus headed towards a barbecue restaurant and let Hannah sleep.  Jayce fell asleep on my lap on the way to the restaurant, and again on the way home.  It was a good and successful Saturday out.

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Knitting and Things

Well, February was my month of knitting, and so I have been knitting.  This has been my little evening project for when I'm watching tv with Chris, or American Idol which they do show over here.  (Speaking of, Keith Urban's presence this year has made me be all "Simon who?" to my previous favorite judge.  Seriously, they need to keep Keith Urban, because we can't stand Mariah or Nicki.  The end of my random AI rant.)  But Idol and knitting do seem to be a perfect pair.

I was invited to a craft group at the beginning of the month that was doing knitting as it's first project.  So, that week, I learned to cast on, and started knitting up this scarf for Jayce.  He's been excited about it, and will periodically grab it and wrap it around his neck, even when it was only the size of a potholder.  

I was advised, the day I learned to knit, not to make a scarf as my first project because they're boring.  I would never finish it and I would end up giving up on knitting out of sheer boredom.  But Jayce had been asking for a scarf, I hadn't bought him one yet, and I thought that a kids' scarf, particularly one that changed colors periodically, would keep my attention.  And it has.  

At the beginning I did think, "This is so boring, I hate this, I'm done knitting once this is done."  But the different colors of yarn are also different types of yarn, so it's been interesting to test out a little variety, and weaving in the ends kept my attention when I was getting bored with the whole project.

Also, doing the same thing over and over has helped me to get much better at it.  My blue stripes look so much nicer than the green stripes that I started with, and the edges, which I had been getting frustrated with, are much smoother and more uniform.  So it's a nice way to measure the fact that I have been making progress and I am getting better.

And now I don't have to be such a "pretend knitter" at my weekly knitting group, where I typically go just to visit, chat with my friends, have some cake and a drink, and wrestle Hannah while people knit around me.  I took my scarf a few weeks ago to show them all, and the lady who taught me how to knit months ago was like a proud mama bird.  I was too. :)

That said, I have let myself be distracted by a few little projects here and there, as I do.  I saw this and for some reason became immediately obsessed with making one for myself, and was sewing it by that evening.  I didn't have any embroidery floss, so I just used a few strands of regular thread and I can't really tell the difference.  

However, Jayce has claimed it as his own.  I was sewing it while we were all watching something one night, he looked over at it and said, 

Wow Mom.  That's some great knitting!  Is that for me?

Umm…do you want it?

Yeah!

Sure buddy.

I kind of thought that he would forget about it, but he didn't.  Actually, the day that I finished it, he carried it around in his pocket for the rest of the night, and then put it on his dresser with his many treasures.  A few days later I brought it back downstairs to take a picture of it, and when he got home from school, saw it out, put it in his pocket again, and back into his room.  He told Chris that he likes it because "Mom made it, and I love her."  So yeah, he gets to keep it.  He is good for my gift-giving soul.  :)

I also let myself get distracted from my knitting by this fun little travel card holder.  A friend, the one who loaned me the sewing machine, got a free kit to make it, thought it looked like me, (she was right), and passed it on to me at the beginning of the month as well.  I love it.  It is MUCH better than the plastic Ikea sleeve that my Oyster card came with. :)

And for now, that's it!  I've been filling up my notebook with other projects that I want to take on, but I'm trying to pace myself with this whole "one thing a month" thing.  I have realized that I have too many ideas flipping through my head at all times to just focus exclusively on one thing for a whole month, it just helps me to prioritize them all a little bit.  

I have another little knitting project that I'm going to start with a friend later this week that I'm really excited about, and it should be a bit more exciting.  

But I'm finishing the scarf this week, because Jayce needs it now, (it's cold here!), and I'm over it.

More soon.  Happy Monday! 

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On Jayce: School, Signs, and Scribbles

Our little buddy is just so full of personality and life these days.  There is so much to say about him.

He's had a few rough moments this past week though.  Last week he saw something on tv that shook him up a little bit.  It was nothing, a strangely drawn number character on a little kids' show, but it freaked him out, and I think he had a nightmare about it.  For the past week he's barely let me out of his sight, which was not amazing while Chris was away.  Things like, he wouldn't even go into the bathroom unless I was with him, or wanted me to come upstairs with him if he needed something from his room, and forget about me leaving his room at night before he was asleep.  It's getting a bit better this week though, and we're working on getting back to normal.

School is, as a whole, going very well.  

I was surprised to learn that they would be doing phonics with the kids.  Four just seems like a young age for this.  But even though he's known his letters and sounds for a few years now, I have been amazed at how much he is taking in.  He has learned how to sound out words and spell phonetically, including the "tricky" sounds.  Last week he was explaining to me about ch and sh.

"Mom, the ch and sh sounds are a little tricky.  It's not ck-huh, it's chu, and not ss-huh, it's shu."  

The kids have books that they bring home each week to read, along with a new poem each week, and words to arrange into short sentences.  This kills me.  I just can't believe he is reading, like REALLY reading, even before kindergarden.  He obviously still makes mistakes and certainly doesn't know all of the "rules" just yet.  But the fact that he is constantly trying and often successfully reading and spelling seems pretty incredible.Last week, we were all sick, all on three-doses-per-day antibiotics, and often on ibuprofen/decongestants/inhalers.  That was not the best week of my life.  Each day I wrote out a little schedule so that I could help my cloudy mind keep track of who had which medicine and when.  Each day, Jayce would sneak my pen away and add xo's for me at the bottom of our list of medications.  This day he drew a picture of me as well.  

He also drew multiple spots on the couch for some reason.  After that, there were no pens laying around anywhere.  Even I couldn't find them when I needed them. 

 Jayce REALLY missed Chris, and really wanted to make a big sign for when he got home.  So one night after I put Hannah to bed, we painted, colored, cut and drew up a little display for Chris.  I gave Jayce some white tack and he hung it all up by himself.  (I was pretty pleased with the symmetry and even the little pieces of paper being so orderly.) 
Jayce asked me to take a picture of his signs, and told me "I'm going to make this face mom," and posed in the above photo. 

(Also the picture on the far right of all of the smiling faces are "dad's students.")

Chris loved his signs.

 Jayce also told him, shortly after he arrived, 

"Dad I really wanted you to snuggle me when you were in America.  I drew on the couch and Mom was very angry, and she yelled at me and I cried and I wanted you to snuggle me."  

I'm not really sure why I am the one who got "told on" in this instance?  Chris was like, "Yeah, mom's mean sometimes, huh?"  And I was like, "I'm going on vacation."

The little stinker.

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Photo An Hour

7:00. Snuggle.8:00.  She thinks that if she shows me, we can pretend she's allowed to play with this.

9:00.  A friend stops by with some "get well soon" goodies for me and the kids, including wine and chocolate.

10:00.  Jayce steps away from the tv and I show him his surprise.

Sometimes he shares, sometimes he doesn't.

11:00.  Stickers and activity books.

12:00. Living room chaos.

1:00. Hot lunch.

2:00.  Chapstick attacks: Hannah-2, Chapstick-0.

3:00. Scissors and watching.

4:00. Hats!

5:00.  Running.  Rolling her arms like in "Pat A Cake" while she runs.6:00. Dinner.  Genuinely excited about the salad.

7:00. Hanna finds my hat and the mirror.8:00. I suddenly feel terrible, skip the kids'  baths, let Jayce lay on the couch with me and play Angry Birds, and eventually I put him to bed and fall asleep alongside him for the night.

Chris went home on Thursday to attend the funeral of his sweet sweet Grandma Louise.  The kids were sick and I was super sick, so we had to send him alone.

These photos are from Saturday, home all day, bored but busy, playing, snuggling, resting, and eager for daddy to return. 

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