The Children's Museum

Every Wednesday we go to the Children's Museum for playgroup. We've been going for almost a year and I finally remembered to bring the camera so I could get pictures of the kids at play. For a while Ellie was really clingy every time we went to the museum and it would take her a good 15-20 minutes before she would get down and run around. She's over that now and just runs off to do her own thing without Mommy now. It's exciting to see her playing with her friends and it gives me a little time to spend with mine as well. =D So here's Ellie's day at the museum yesterday:

The first thing she did was draw on the chalkboard easel. I don't think I've ever seen her play with this before, but she did yesterday. Several times, in fact. She loves to draw and color, so I should have known she'd like this. Well, she liked everything but the feeling of chalk on her hands after she colored. I think the look on her face as she tried to brush the chalk dust off her hands says it all:


And yes, after she got done drawing on the chalk board, she decided it was time to color with crayons. Doesn't she look like such a big girl the way she holds the crayon correctly to color?? It's hard to believe this is my little baby. And yes, that is her left hand she's coloring with. She is so predominantly left handed it's not even funny. Occasionally she will use her right hand for something, but most of the time she eats and colors with her left. I wonder if all our children will be lefties...

She didn't really play with it yesterday, but this train set is one of the things Ellie often gravitates towards. She doesn't play with it as it's intended, per se, but she does drive the little train cars around on the ground. Zoe, however, had a blast at the train set yesterday and played with it for quite a while.


Eventually, as pretty much always happens, all of the kids congregate in the basketball court to play with balls. Zoe was hanging out back there and Ellie followed her.


Then Zach came back and started shooting hoops. Yes, he is a really good basketball star for a 2 year old! It's no wonder, though... his mother played college ball and has trained him well!

And Ellie? Well, Ellie likes to do what everyone else is doing, so she joined in the fun. Someday she will learn that you can throw the ball through the hoop, but in the meantime she just likes to touch the net and be like everyone else.

When the excitement of the basketball court had worn off, Ellie and Zoe went back into the doctor's office to play.

It was a busy morning for Ellie at the museum, but no trip is complete for Ellie without some time in the toddler room. Here Ellie is telling me that this is a "but-fly". She loves to look at the mural and point out various things.

She also likes to play on the slide in the toddler room. This is one of the first times I have seen her go down it all by herself! She slid down over and over and even waited and took turns with Zoe and Zach nicely.


After the museum we always go to Cosmic Pizza and eat lunch with Daddy. It's a good time and a great tradition and I hope we keep it up for a long, long time.