The Science Museum for toddlers

This weekend we took a trip to the Science Museum.

Arlo had a cold, and in hindsight, perhaps we should have stayed at home, because he was groggy all day and wasn’t really in the mood to enjoy any of it.

There is a great interactive children’s area at the science museum, with loads of things to do for toddlers, but poor Arlo was a little overwhelmed by it all. By the look of things, so was this little person behind him.

He did enjoy playing with the giant lego, and discovering that cones make pretty good stacking objects too. Arlo is all about the stacking.

He did one thing that I’ve not seen him do before. He crawled up to a little girl who must have been around the same age. He saw her sit down and he made a beeline. I’ve never seen him seek out social interaction like that. He’s always the passive one, and if anyone comes up to him, they are largely ignored. Saying that, all he did was plonk himself down and sit in silence right next to her with his face turned the other way.

Flirting, you’re doing it wrong.

He perked up and had a crazy half hour on the train home. Rolling around and playing peekabo with strangers through the gaps in the seats.

We saw some bubbles at the science museum. Then in the evening at home, Arlo said ‘bubble’, and sure enough there were bubbles on the TV. Moments like this amaze me.

After Sam fed him dinner, Arlo found me on the sofa. He climbed up and wrapped his body around me, and we stayed cuddled like that until it was time for bed.

Although I’d rather he wasn’t ill, the cuddle was really quite lovely. He was getting the exact comfort he wanted, and for a change, it didn’t involve milk. Usually, when he’s poorly he clings to me and wails in despair, but I quite liked this quiet cuddle, his limbs wrapped around me like a koala on a tree.

Then he threw up.