Children's Museum last Thursday

Some members of our homeschool group met at the local Children's Museum last Thursday afternoon. I wanted to talk to one of the other mom's, so we headed over there after Glitter's preschool.

Glitter started out not wanting to have her picture taken. However, I persisted because I have so many pictures of Sparkle from school, but not nearly as many pictures of Glitter. Here she is in a big throne in the storybook kingdom and doing one of those dance games.


One of the favorites parts of the museum was the "sea and sand" rooms. The kids liked scooping and pouring the sand, and there was enough room and tools for all. Several of the kiddos in the homeschool group fit around the table. My favorite part of the room was the fact that there was only one door. You didn't have to worry about a kid dashing off after a friend or something else interesting.




The last thing we did was some painting. Both girls made two pictures. I told them that if they wanted to keep their pictures, they would have to carry them. Glitter grabbed both of her pictures. Sparkle decided that she wanted only one of hers and threw the other away. Then we headed back to the car.

It was a long walk because I had parked on the opposite side of the mall. Both girls were also hungry because I wouldn't let them eat in the museum. I had one snack bag and to prevent a fight I told the girls that one of them could hold the bag until we got to the car, and the other girl could hold the bag once in the car. Glitter wanted the bag immediately, and Sparkle was content to wait. (Both girls could eat from the bag at any time, but they both get some sort of power trip from the simple act of holding the bag.)

I thought everything was fine, until I realized that Glitter's hands were so full holding her pictures and the snack bag that she didn't have a hand free to actually pick up any of the snacks. I gave Glitter a few suggestions, including trying to hold everything in one hand, throwing away the pictures, or asking Sparkle to hold something, but left the decision up to her. However, Glitter was determined to hold both the snack bag and the pictures. She walked halfway through the mall, before hunger finally won out. She spied a trash can and unceremoniously shoved her pictures in it. I wish that I had got a picture of the moment - I loved how confidently she made her decision. She then strode happily through the rest of the mall nibbling away on peanut butter pretzel squares. (Note Sparkle in the background demonstrating to Glitter how she could have freed a hand by holding the pictures under her arm.)