I have been trying to take the Little Guy somewhere fun on Friday afternoons, especially now that it is nicer outside. Last week we went to Hersheypark for a few hours, but today it was too rainy for that. So we considered our options, called to see if his best friend was available (he was!), and ended up at Curiosity Connection.
Curiosity Connection, otherwise affectionately known as the home of the giant chick — seriously, it is 10 feet tall, check out the pictures! — is a discovery-learn-play place at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg.
It is designed for children ages 2-7, and, although it is not a huge space, there is a lot to see and do inside. The Little Guy’s favorite part is the magical bedroom. Some of the other sections are related to the living forest, industry and transportation, farming, construction, and art. There are also puppets, books, some costumes, and an area especially for the littlest ones.
Another nice feature is the single entrance manned by a museum employee so you don’t have to worry about your child wandering off or getting lost. All in all, it is well worth the $5.00 per person admission fee.
I got a twitter from spotobe the other day (yes, I am on twitter now) and decided to check it out. I am glad I did!
Spotobe is short for “the spot to be” and is actually a very cool website about places to go and things to do in central Pennsylvania. Here’s a brief description from the site:
Whether you’re looking to visit Central Pennsylvania, move here or already live here, bookmark this site to keep up with what’s going on in the region. Spotobe aggregates all the events—from concerts to exhibitions to hockey games, and much more—so you can view all your options in one convenient place.
Besides the About/FAQ page, there are four main parts to spotobe:
- events – choose ongoing or upcoming and then browse, search or filter by category or date if you wish
- locations – here you can search or select from eight different categories. Clicking on view details takes you to a page with the address/directions, any events at that location, and a list of other places you might be interested in. Hmm, I wonder if they will ever offer a rating or comment system to viewers??
- my spots – once you register (very simple and fast), you can add locations or events to your personalized list for quick reference. Features include creating multiple lists, printing your lists and even sending them to a friend.
- area map – dynamic map with events marked based on the date selected, can zoom in and out and access details right from that page, can also filter by category
When viewing the site, you can also choose which region you are interested in – Central PA, Harrisburg, or Hershey. The site is visually appealing and well thought out; there is even a feed that you can subscribe to for notification of upcoming events. The feed can be customized by category and time frame, although, despite a very thorough explanation of the RSS process in the FAQs, the only place I saw to access this is a tiny Subscribe link at the bottom of the page, and I didn’t see a subscribe by email option.
They have plans to expand into other areas, but in the meantime, all you non-central Pennsylvanians should check it out and then come visit us!
Our appointment with the pediatrician today went surprisingly well. I had spent the last couple of days prepping the Little Guy that we were going and what to expect while we were there. Well, we arrived at the office only to find that our doctor had switched his schedule and our appointment had been moved to Wednesday! This apparently had been done back in February but no one had ever called us!! I almost had a meltdown myself but managed to hold it together (for the most part) while trying to express how upsetting this would be to him and how shocked I was that this had occurred. Thankfully, one of the doctors who was there but not on the schedule was willing to see him, and we did not have to leave and come back another day. Phew!!
The doctor we saw today had a different style than our regular one, and we had a surprisingly good discussion about the vaccine issue. He was very understanding of the difficulty many parents have with this decision and promised that they would work with us whatever we decide. He also encouraged me not to worry about school but simply file the exemption if that is how we feel. Although he does not believe that vaccines have any correlation to autism, he acknowledged that there are risks to getting the shots as well as risks to not getting the shots. So we are going to have to think on this one some more in the next few months.
With that stressful event over and since we were in Hershey anyway, we decided to go over to Chocolate World (a great free thing to do around here). Before going on the “Great American Chocolate Tour,” we stopped at the Hersheypark season pass office to renew our passes for 2008. Because of Michael’s disability and the fact that I was getting a companion pass, we got the “accessible” rate on both passes and saved a total of $30. 
We paid $115 each, which is a bargain when you consider that an adult one-day admission for the upcoming season is a whopping $47.95. The companion pass has a big C instead of my picture and can be used by anyone, thus allowing another caregiver to take him to the park instead of me.
Bonus tip for those in the area or who may travel here: If you go up to any food stand at Hersheypark that has fountain drinks, you can request a large ice water at no charge. This is not bottled water but a cup of ice and water from the soda fountain, and you do not have to purchase anything in order to get it. Pretty nice for those hot days, especially when you are walking the whole park!
When I got the email newsletter from our moms’ group from church the other day, there was a blurb about a new fun place to take your kids called Museum 4 Me. It is the brainchild of a former elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home mom turned entrepreneur.
I was really intrigued after looking around the website and wanted to take Little Guy to check it out, so we went there today with my friend Stacey and her youngest son, who is 3 1/2. The boys had a blast – we were there for 2 hours and both of them would have played happily for another hour at least!
The museum takes up the lower level of a house and has several different areas of hands-on play for the kids. The room you first walk into changes each month and right now is set up like a backyard, complete with a planting area and playhouse. Next there is an area with a couple of tables where you could eat food you bring in or snacks you buy there, along with a few items for sale.
The intended age is birth to 6, but older siblings are welcome and would probably enjoy playing with the younger children. One area that older kids may like is an art area with all sorts of different craft supplies – both of our boys chose to paint pictures. LG painted “A Sunny Day”, and I have to tell you I was amazed that he was able to easily come up with an idea and execute it, using several different colors of paint in distinct areas of the paper – I am getting emotional just realizing what giving him this extra year of preschool so he could be in a typical environment and allow his skills to develop has produced.
The biggest room is filled with several different exhibits – a construction area, treehouse, post office, store, kitchen area with dolls, building blocks, and an area with mats and soft climbing blocks for the littlest ones. The favorites with our two were by far the post office and the treehouse, although they investigated each one thoroughly and spent some time in almost all of them.
It was a wonderful way to spend a rainy Friday afternoon and I’m sure we will go back again. The maximum occupancy is 50, and I can imagine that it might be a little overwhelming for the Little Guy with a lot of kids there. Of course, if we ever get there and it is too crowded, we would easily be able to see that before we went in and he could decide whether we should do something different that day.
All things considered, I would highly recommend a visit if you have young ones at home. They are having a Grand Opening event on March 29th with a circus theme, special activities and half-price admission (it is usually $5 per person – 12 months and younger are free).
Well, it has finally happened – the Little Guy has discovered the joys of Chuck E. Cheese’s. He had been there twice before, at least a year ago, but wasn’t able to play most of the games at that point and hadn’t understood the connection between playing games, getting tickets and redeeming them for prizes.
Then last Wednesday, Hands-Free Heart calls and says she is making an emergency stop at CEC’s and do we want to join them, since we live close by and the boys are great pals. So we go and have a wonderful time playing games and collecting tickets. When it is about time to leave, we look over the available prizes and, to my amazement, he decides to hold on to his tickets until he can earn enough for a better prize! Wow, can anyone say impulse control and delayed gratification!!
From there, we are on our way to music therapy and he happily gets out of the car, goes into the building, stops at the bathroom and enters the therapy room, all with not one complaint (this has been a big issue for a while now). Mom & therapist are both very happy
Friday there is a make-up session for music therapy, but the TSS also has hours to get in, so she takes him from daycare to CEC’s, and I pick him up in time to get to music. By giving the tokens one at a time and requiring him to answer what game he was going to play and how to play it, she got some great responding to questions out of him.
Getting to music was again stress-free, so now we are working on a plan to use these little golden reinforcers to motivate some of the behaviors we are looking for. Of course, I don’t want to take the joy out of a fun childhood experience, but you have to use anything that works as long as you can!!
