Museum of Nature and Science

Sunday, November 6th

Melinda and I (Jack) just recently renewed our family membership for the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Between this and our Fort Worth Zoo membership, we can spend plenty of weekends of family fun.

The roving exhibit that the museum had was particularly interesting for us - SHARKS! Recently, X has been talking more about sharks and whales (but never forgetting his true love of dinosaurs - which also happens to be at this museum).

We got to see plenty of real sharks up close (albeit, no live ones) and touch a variety of shark teeth and sit and watch very large, close-up videos of sharks swimming (which made you feel like you were in the water with them).

X and A also loved getting inside the shark-proof cages and pretending they were deep water divers.

Another great thing about this museum is the Children's Museum section with lots and lots of interactive exhibits and play areas that are the perfect age for these active boys. Our biggest obstacle in coming is trying to keep the low-attention span boys on one task for even 20 or 30 seconds. They get overstimulated by the wide variety of activities all  over the small area (very much like the situation at Chuck Cheese) and their brains tell their body that they need to do it all right now or they will miss it. You can actually see almost a rabid look in A's eyes as he is about to go wacko. We let them run for a few minutes and then pull them out of all the stimuli (as best we can) and make them sit down and breath for a minute (to regulate their body) and then try to get them to focus on one thing for at least a minute or two. Everyone knows that little kids run around in circles, but this is way beyond that and is actually something they will be dealing with for the next few decades - especially A, but also X. Their teachers already see it and it can make learning very difficult! Although some therapist are ready to label it ADHD even now, other want to wait a little longer to make sure that is the proper diagnosis. Regardless, one of the coping mechanisms will be to get the kids to calm themselves down with deep breathing and sitting still for even as short as 60 seconds to regulate themselves.  

After the Science Museum and before going into the Nature Museum we break for a picnic on the grounds and across from the ponds. We got to see plenty of walkers since it was the end of the 3-Day Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and they walk / run in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park (the museum is also at Fair Park as well). While it looked a bit like rain, it was still a very beautiful day. As a special treat, a 16 inch tortoise was walking the grounds outside. It seems this was part of a live exhibit in the Nature Museum and this guy did not play well with others so they brought him outside to walk around (with his handler nearby). He seemed very fast for a tortoise and walked at full speed wherever he wanted to go. He had 3 - 10 kids following him around and petting his shell (including X and A) and we got some great photos and video of him and the kids. Every now and then his handler would have to turn him around so he would not get too far off where she wanted him to walk (which was mainly on the sidewalk between the two buildings), but other than that, he never stopped moving. This might have been the most exciting part of the whole visit. 

The Nature museum had the traditional dinosaurs and another roving exhibit we specifically came to see - Bob the Builder (and animated handyman series I think on PBS). The exhibit was for very young children and had plenty of things to climb in, sit on and do. We spent probably an hour or more in the one big room. There are also a lot more dinosaurs in the Nature museum, but that will have to wait for another days because the kids were wearing out and we wanted to leave while everyone was still happy (instead of getting cranky tired). We got in the car and, like our visit to the State Fair, we did not even make it out of the parking lot before they were asleep in their car seats.

Wackoness aside, we still would not trade these days! They get so excited about seeing and trying new things (or even things that they haven't done or seen in a long time) and THIS is what being a kid is all about. We will work on the coping mechanisms, but we never want them to stop being excited about knowledge or crush their sense of wonder.

Check off anther great day for X and A!