John studying our subway map. Chloe and John peering into the car ahead.
This week our Tot school looked much different; we took it on the road! As a finale to Thankfulness Month, we spent last week in Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington. An enjoyable trip that provided plenty of learning opportunities!
The Museum of Natural History in Washington was where the three of us headed while daddy visited the art gallery. From the giant mammals to the dinosaur wonders and ‘underwater’ sea gallery, the littles were captivated the whole morning!
The Smithsonian Zoo was also fun to explore. Sadly, this time of year many animals are nowhere to be found but after searching the outdoor exhibit, we did find the pandas in the indoor exhibit. They were neat to watch!
When we arrived at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and discovered that babywearing was not allowed, I was annoyed but headed back to the van to locate our stroller. Upon entrance, it turns out I didn’t really need it. Their children’s area redeemed them in my eyes. A HUGE art room housed supplies and was staffed by two friendly ladies who directed us to a table, provided supplies and had us making our own sculptures. The littles loved it and their creations were…well, very creative!
They also boasted a rather large collection of wooden puzzles and other fun learning manipulatives that kept the little ones playing and exploring. Some were a little trickier and mommy had to lend a hand.
I grabbed a front row seat to watch the puppet show put on by Chloe. Inside this neat wooden house/puppet theatre was an entire bin of puppets just waiting to be played with. Sadly, this was the only photo I snapped.
We also visited the Norman Rockwell special exhibit there which was one of the main reasons for the trip. Chloe enjoyed looking at the different paintings and we played games to see if she could find certain things in the paintings. While perusing the gift shop on the way out, Chloe excitedly exclaimed, “Look, there are the same paintings we just saw!” I was surprised at how much she took in.
- This post links up to Tot School and Preschool Corner– linkups of ideas for you and your tot!
How fun!
I can’t believe they don’t allow baby wearing! What was their reason??
Hey, a lack of photos means you enjoyed just watching the puppet show!
Yes, I’m wondering about the baby-wearing too! Wouldn’t it create more space for others if you didn’t have a stroller? If they’re worried about security, you could hide a lot more stuff in a stroller than a carrier! 🙂
The security guy didn’t give me an answer when I questioned it. He simply pointed to the sign above his head (which I should have taken a picture of!) and there it was, plain as day. Scott pointed out that maybe wearing him on my back, he would reach out and touch things? I said if that was the concern, I’d switch him around and wear John in the front! {I had on my Ergo}.
I’m wondering if it is a Baltimore or MD museum policy since both museums we went to that day had the same policy but all the museums in Washington, DC had no issues with it the rest of our trip. I’ve worn John front and back in the ROM and Art gallery in Toronto, in all the museums (including the Louvre) in Paris and many other places. I’ve never encountered that before!
The guard did offer to let me speak to the manager, but honestly, these days I’m not up to it. It was easier to shrug and say, “OK, whatever”.
I agree though, I think that babywearing is much more friendly to those around you. It’s also more convenient – as I discovered at the Louvre. Honestly – visiting there with a stroller is a pain. I had John in the Ergo and Chloe in the stroller since it was going to be a long day. There are a couple floors but you have to take different elevators to get to each. For example, to visit the first floor, you’d take the elevator on the west side. To get to the second floor, you would take the west elevator back down to the main floor where you would walk to the East side to catch a different elevator that would take you to the second floor but it doesn’t stop on the first. Very odd and confusing and not at all relative to your comment is it? LOL