Life's a beach

Wednesday (our adventure day this week) was frigid. And I do mean freezing. I had it all planned out. We'd take a nice trip to the well heated Brooklyn Children's Museum, which is newly renovated. But after lunch, P said no thanks. A typical response when attempting anything out of the everyday for him. We had a nice chat about his worries (getting lost, security guards, getting taken on a train, breaking a rule at the museum. Heartbreaking to hear the serious worries of a four year old!) and how comfortable it is to do the familiar. Then I reminded him of all of his favorite things we had done, and how many of them had been firsts that he had been worried to go to. I told him I was willing to go anywhere on Adventure Day, as long as we had an adventure and expanded our worlds just a titch...

To my surprise he chose the aquarium. I mentioned that it might be awfully chilly by the water, but in light of his willingness to travel afar, I was happy to add layers:) His recent shark tooth acquisition and shark tattoo had him rather excited to show BB (who is extremely fearful of sharks) the shark tank. And do you know what the child did before we left? He dressed himself. Head to toe. His undies were on backwards and his shirts took him a while, but he did it. This is something he has shown No Interest in, despite my frequent offerings of independence ("P, here's your shirt. You want to put it on?" "No thanks, Mama, you do it." etc) For whatever reason, he finally felt the need to achieve this milestone. (He had me dress him today, so I'm not saying he's turned over an independence leaf or anything, but now he knows he can do all of it himself, which produced a surly smile and an attempted sulk;)

The aquarium was wonderfully empty and we had a lovely time. P is so dedicated to his monster. Whenever he learns something, he turns to BB and repeats it. If its something slightly confusing or surprising to him, he has the monster describe the situation incorrectly so that he can correct him and re-explain it over and over. They observed the frogs burrowed in their bedding and then saw a caterpillar drown in a water dish. I was slightly horrified, but P was simultaneously fascinated and zen about it. Once the bug finished twitching P easily moved on to another tank, explaining to BB that the caterpillar died, but here were some live crickets....



The walrus captivated P for a looooong time. It is a glorious creature to watch.



We eventually made it to the shark tank where P and BB petted the display skin and looked through the magnifying glass.



Then P was ready to go find crabs on the beach, and we were off...




There weren't any crabs on the freezing sand (we had found some there when the days were warmer) but plenty of other interesting shells to be had. So we gathered until our hands were frozen and then headed home with our new treasure from our seaside adventure.