Children's Museum in West Hartford

On 9/17 I took Damien to the Children's Museum in West Hartford. It not only had things to do but a planetarium, animals, butterflies, and of course it had all kinds of reptiles. Taking him here was a learning experience for both him and me. I learned things about him I never realized. For example:

In certain parts of the museum it is dark, not pitch black but dark (like where the nocturnal animals are kept) and the first thing I learned was Damien was afraid of the dark. We were going to go to the planetarium movie (about a cat in space for preschoolers) but obviously that wouldn't work out since they turn the lights off to show the movie and stars and things. So we skipped it and just did the museum.

This picture was taken on our way out, not in because even though the dinosaurs in the background are statues and the smaller one is only maybe 5' tall, he was terrified of them. It took me over an hour just to get him this close. (Of course I had help by a 'whale' of a friend which you will see later). So going to Dinosaur State Park is out of the question, their dinosaurs are 20' high and more.

His favorite toy was this over sized Lite-Bright type toy and.....

this simple wavy rail against the wall of the ramp down to the next level. You put the ball (in his hand) on the ramp at the top and watch it 'roll' all the way to the bottom where it lands in that red basket.

 I can see where he'd like the top toy since he likes lights but there was a race track with cars and you did races.....I fingered for sure he'd love that and we would be there all day racing. Nope, he liked this better.

He loved the fish tank and his favorite animals were these foxes, not the ferret or bunny.

He was afraid of the lizards and snakes.

This whale is huge yet he isn't afraid of it but was afraid of the small dinosaurs so size don't matter.....it is the shape/look. The dinosaurs must look lizard-like to him so he is afraid of them.

I used this whale to show him it wasn't real and a sort of statue which is how I got him to stop being so terrified of the dinosaurs in the first picture. He liked this whale which he kept calling a "fish".

We had a nice time there but I was glad when he wanted to leave. It was a lot of walking. We both came home and took a nap.