Dinosaurs

After having one of the longest colds I can recall, I have begun feeling guilty that I haven't been doing enough with the Babe.  This summer has not been one filled with playdates and playgrounds.  When we moved to this area last August, I had a list of kid-friendly (and allergy-safe) places we could visit.  I didn't think we'd do it all at once, but there were plenty of museums and parks to find entertainment.  Yesterday we finally went to one of those places on the list.  It is the Dinosaur Discovery Museum located in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  It sounds much grander than it is, but it is a nice little museum located near the lakefront, and it is free.  Who can do better than that? 

Before we went, I asked her if she wanted to go see the dinosaurs.  No, she is of course afraid of dinosaurs.  However, when she mentioned seeing the dinosaur fossils she became very excited.  Somehow, she has made the distinction in her head that dinosaurs=scary big animals, dinosaur fossils= fun.  How does a two-year-old know the difference?  Television, of course.  There's an animated children's show called "Dinosaur Train" that has dinosaurs roaming different time periods.  Then there were some other programs that had visits to museums where they saw dinosaurs and fossils.  So to her there is a definite distinction between dinosaurs and dinosaur fossils. 

At the museum, she enjoyed the exhibit.  We perhaps spent ten minutes looking at the display (one large room of about 20 dinosaurs), then to another area where she could color, and the finale was the gift shop.  Because to me, no museum visit is worthwhile without a visit to the gift shop.  We probably spent more time getting to and from the museum, but it was worth the trip.  And as we left, the Babe confirmed that she was a "super-de-duper good girl", which I can only agree.