This weekend was rather eventful. Saturday we went to the mall to see Santa. All along we have been asking Hope if she is scared of Santa. She said "Nope." When we finally got our chance, she wouldn't get within four feet of him and shrieked and hid behind me and practically climbed up over my head. She didn't want anything to do with having her picture with him and she most certainly didn't want me anywhere near him either. So, the annual picture of the children with Santa is going to seem, twenty years from now, that Hope was not around. Mr. Monkey could probably insert her digitally into the picture, but is that the memory we really want? I don't think it would feel right to have an artificial picture. I would much rather remember her screaming bloody murder and pulling me with all her weight by the hand toward the exit gate. Logan and Savannah do the same thing every year, they give me a hundred different lists of what they would like for him to bring them. Then when they finally get to sit on his lap and hash it all out with him, they clam up. They are smiley and bashful. They have trouble remembering whether they are good or bad. This is the stuff all mothers most treasured memories are made of. Especially when you call the grandparents who are expecting a picture with three children in it to tell them that we didn't force the youngest through possibly lifelong damaging trauma by making her be in the picture. Since the experience Hope has repeatedly said, "I scared of everysing!" It is too cute. She then makes a list of all the things she is scared of. Hello Kitty, Angelica, Santa...
Yesterday, we went to the Museum of Discovery and Science. The children and I had been there before, this was Mr. Monkey's first visit. It was pretty fun. The children weren't especially perfect, so that was stressful. But all in all we had a good time. We bought an annual memebership. I think that is going to be one of the grandparents gifts to the children. Whoever sends us money, that is what they got them. It wasn't cheap. We bought the most expensive membership so that we could get invited to all the special events and get a behind the scenes tour and participate in the camps they host. There is an exhibit there currently called "Grossology". It is a huge hands on, climb right in, explanation of the human body and all of the nasty details. We got to learn about snot, farts, armpit odor, and poop among other things. What better education could a kid ask for? We watched the Dolphins movie in the IMAX theatre. It was pretty great too. I have once again proven my need to purchase a sweater to take with me everywhere I go. I think they were trying to cultivate snow in there. During this footage we got a glimpse of a place in the Bahamas called Hope Town, one of the researchers lives there studying Dolphin communication. I think that is where my monkey is going to want to live now. I have no idea what we would do in hurricane season, but it sure is a beautiful place.
Posted by gwendolyn on December 17, 2001 at 10:02 AM