Science Center Trip

We visited our local science center today, which is only open to the public for one day of the month. We have an annual membership which is well worth it. I can't believe we have such a fabulous science center in our back yard! There's so much to do in the various buildings that we are never able to do it all in one day.

Today, we focused on the natural science building. We held and touched various animals. B held a tarantula, a baby mouse and a Madagascar hissing cockroach. He loves those cockroaches for some reason and he kept laughing when it repeatedly tried to run up his arm and make a break for it. B is a very gentle guy with great regard for all creatures. The one time that he accidentally stepped on a beetle, he cried hard about it because he felt so sad about what he'd done. So, while it always surprises me that he's being so brave with bugs, it also seems fitting that he would like a hissing cockroach as much as any other animal. We were able to hear the cockroaches hiss, btw, which was so loud!

Following B's lead, I decided to be brave and hold the tarantula. I'm generally squeamish and nervous about animals in general (especially bugs) but I really like spiders for some reason. Still, there's such a strong mental aversion to touching something like a tarantula. But you know, once I had it on my hand, it really felt like any other pet. Its legs were soft and nice. And it felt furry like a hamster. It was a nice animal. I wasn't brave enough to hold the cockroach but I did touch one.

T also surprised us by touching some animals because, normally, he's very adverse to even getting near them. With one finger, he touched a tree frog, a baby mouse and a ferret. The ferret was almost like a dog or a cat, very sociable and snuggly. B and I also touched some snakes but T abstained.

B also examined various bones in the animal rooms including a snake skeleton and turtle shells.

In one of the marine rooms, he touched the horseshoe crabs, sting-rays and a starfish. In another marine room, they had cow bones out for some bizarre reason. At any rate, B held part of the cow spine and he was thrilled to discover the tunnel where the spinal cord would go inside the vertebrae. Dh, B and T did a bug puzzle. We looked at animal X-rays. And we watched a working honey bee hive that is temporarily being kept in the marine room. B commented that one honeybee was working by himself and how sad he must feel to be alone.

Then, we went to the Living Farm. In the main house, we ate cinnamon fritters that were cooked over a fire. I made a comment about a checkerboard on the wall which led to one of the interpreters talking about how they would use corn cob slices as pieces. That led to a discussion of natural pigments for paint. Then, somehow, we ended up talking about mattresses, straw and bed bugs.

We wandered over to the blacksmith's shop, where we chatted with him for a while. He let B pump the bellows, which was exciting. The kids got a kick out of watching him hammer a red-hot piece of metal and make designs in it.

Then, we went into the barn to see the animals. The kids ground up corn to feed the chickens. There's a nice elderly man who is an interpreter and he loves to chat to anyone who will listen. I spoke to him for a while. He let B brush the horse.

In a shelter, there was a wood-working activity going on. B patiently waited for over 20 minutes to have a turn, while the woodworker helped another boy measure and cut some wood. An older boy helped B sharpen a chisel on a wetstone. Then, when it was B's turn to do workworking, the woodworker spent about 20 minutes with him. He showed him how to use a spoke shave tool to turn a wooden block into a dowel. He was so patient and spent so much time with B. B was really thrilled. When we left, he sent B with the dowel he made, in addition to some sandpaper.

Now, B is really interested in woodworking. Dh loves to do woodworking but we always had space issues. In the new house, dh will have his own shop in the basement. The guys are so excited about the idea of doing woodworking in the new shop. I had bought a book called, "Carpentry for Children" by Lester R. Walker. There are lots of great projects in that book and I can't wait for them to be able to do some!

On a completely unrelated note, I have been inspired to try to speak Spanish to the kids at intervals in the day. I pick up languages very easily and I love studying languages. I even studied Chinese Mandarin one semester and did very well in it. I wade through written Polish when I do genealogy. With the Spanish, I dated a guy from South America and I had tons of South American friends. Subsequently, I had frequent language immersion opportunities. It got to the point where I was very good at speaking Spanish. I wasn't fluent. But, well, one time a guy who was talking about my friend had to switch to Spanish Pig Latin because I was translating for her regardless of how quickly he spoke. I passed a graduate level Spanish exam without taking the class; I had to translate a Spanish essay about the political effect of nuclear weapons development.

And now, 15 years later...I have lost most of my Spanish. It seems like such a waste. I just haven't had the opportunity to use it. The Latin American population is rapidly growing where we live, but even with random situations, it's not enough to keep my skills up. I was thinking about all of this one night, as I was dithering about choosing a language course from the library (French? German? Chinese?) . I was thinking that it's a shame I couldn't expose my kids to some foreign language. Then, I thought that perhaps I could get Spanish language tape and try to jog my memory. Dh said that he supposed that it would help sensitize the kids' brains for future foreign language acquisition, even if they didn't learn any functional Spanish now.

So, I've decided to go ahead and try it. I have language tapes on order with the library, but I've started speaking some rusty Spanish to the kids, like "Would you like a TV show?", "Sit down.", "Ready? Let's go." At first I really felt like a dork; I'm sure I sound like one because I have lost my nice accent. :-( But my kids actually really took to it! They were actually enthusiastic about it, which surprised me. They try to repeat what I say and they sometimes remember what a phrase means. Of course, throwing in English words and using sign language helps. I thought that maybe we could borrow some Spanish translations of picture books we know well; the library has a ton of those. B has been bugging me every day to see if the language tapes are in yet. They might not learn much but I think it must be good for them to hear it.