Kitchen Day 2

Cheap Daycare or Children’s Museum?!

I’d been promising Aoife that we would go to Discovery Gateway while Martin was away. She didn’t have pre school today, so once the kitchen had been demolished and I had mustered some energy we headed up to SLC.

All three of us had a fabulous time. Apparently afternoons are pretty quiet there. It was really peaceful and Hugo was able to crawl around and explore. I thought it would be mainly the little kid area that was suitable for him, but he had an absolute blast. Anything Aoife did he wanted to try.

Aoife wanted Hugo to drive the toy car while she filled up with petrol. Pictures aren’t great as I was terrified that Hugo would fall forward and clunk his face, but he loved every second. He was giggling away.

We went to the construction area and Hugo played with the hard hats and the tool box. Aoife tried to put gloves on him but he wouldn’t oblige.

Aoife then decided that it was more fun to winch up flowers than bricks. Fair enough.

Some other children decided to put their siblings on the mat and try and winch them up. I couldn’t help but tell them to stop. The parents were oblivious.

Aoife was really sweet with Hugo. She was showing him everything and making him laugh. I told her that as she had got to play with a lot of the big kid stuff it was time to take Hugo to the baby/toddler area. They got to dress up as beavers and birds, row a boat, ride rockers and slide around.

There was a little section for babies under 18 months. You got into it by a swing door, Hugo kept charging at it and then getting hit on the head as it swung back. He didn’t seem to mind and kept trying to open and shut the door. He was more interested in that than the stuff in the actual area.

Hugo needed milk and there was a really nice ‘nursing area’. Not that he didn’t nurse in other areas- we were there for hours…. It was a really pleasant well thought out area.

We stayed in the little kid area for a good half an hour. During that time there was another lady there with two kids. A baby and a toddler. We chatted a bit and I assumed she had two children. Later I saw her with another older child. She had been left completely unattended the whole time we were in the toddler section. Maybe she had a friend with her and they were watching each other’s kids, and said friend left without me noticing- but I doubt it.

We were playing with the barbeque stuff. Aoife asked me I would like a veggie burger. People stared. The section was pretty quiet and Hugo was sat at my feet playing with the toy food. Some older kids came charging up, knocked the toys over and into Hugo. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt- more shocked- but I told them off. The father then took them away and glared at me.

I got talking to the museum staff. I told them how brilliant the place was. It was not my first visit, but each time I have been really impressed. I then asked about the lack of attention from adults and they said they often get people asking if they can just let the kids to play and leave the building.

I saw another lot of big kids try to winch a younger sibling. Maybe that was what you were meant to do and I was wrong. Anyhow, on the way home I told Aoife how proud I was of her behaviour- especially with regards to Hugo. She was so loving and patient with him. She asked about why some parents weren’t playing with their kids and looking after them. She had been pretty worried about the baby being lifted up on the winch.

Completely unprompted she said ‘Mummy, we should write ‘please look after your children’ on lots of pieces of paper and put them in plastic bags. Then when we see people not looking after their children we can give them a piece of paper.

Don’t worry- I won’t try it. I don’t fancy getting shot!

Shocked!

In the semi dark on Tuesday I thought I saw a ‘recycling’ bin outside Abravanel Hall.

I’d been contemplating writing to places like Target asking them to put at least one outside their shops. There are so many public rubbish bins where recyclables are needlessly tossed. I thought it would really encourage people to recycle if they could do so at public places.

At ‘Discovery Gateway’ this afternoon I realised I wasn’t mistaken on Tuesday. SLC have obviously invested in at least two recycling bins. Wow! Now we need to get Utah County on board!

I really did see this today!