'B' is for Museum ... No Really, it is!

We spent all afternoon at our local children's museum yesterday. Vada had a blast! Oh. My. Gosh! She had SO much fun exploring everything and she had no idea how much work she was actually doing but I did!

We spent the majority of our time in an area that was sectioned off for children under the age of four years old. Here she found a section that was very much like a bedroom. She loved the over sized bed and after having help up onto the "mattress" once, she got up onto the bed several more times on her very own!

Another part was sectioned like a bathroom.

A kitchen.

The kitchen is where she liked to be! She really enjoyed cooking me delicious meals of bread and oranges!

I even used this time to teach more 'B' lessons. 'B' is for banana, bread, bowl and butter. I'm pretty for sure that I didn't have an ounce of her attention however! Lol!

I find it very interesting that Vada knew this to be a phone even though we do not have a phone that resembles one even remotely similar to this at home. We have iphones, that's it, but she walked up to this phone and spent many minutes having longs conversations with a possible someone before hanging up to go onto another venture.

Vada pretended to do laundry, something I actually have her help me do here at home. Check out those gross motor squatting skills!

She practiced playing the Xylophone and then put the sticks back into their slots. Music class and even some fine motor practice all in one!

Another 'B' activity... You can barely see it on the mat because I have no idea how to make it show up with my camera but they have a really neat interactive pond with lily pads, frogs and butterflies. I showed Vada the butterflies, told her that they began with the letter 'B' and told her to "get" them...

After about three hours in the four and under section we went out into the "big kid section". Vada practiced working in a grocery store.

I'm such a nag, "Vada, that's bread. Bread starts with the letter 'B'. Can you do the sign for bread?" She turns to me and looks at me like, "Yes, you know I can." and gives me a really quick sign. Too quick to really get but I almost got that look!

I forgot to share some of the super hard work she did in the four and under section... and I could fix my pictures, but im not gonna.

They have a playground area there and Vada loved it! She had a blast! What I realized was how hard she was working to be playing however! Which made me even more proud! This walkway was rippled. She figured out how to hold on to the side rails with both hands to keep her balance.

Textures have never really been an issue for Vada. However, for many children with and without Down syndrome textures do cause issues, so I thought this carpet sample stripping was a neat idea. I had Vada run her hands over each one. I try to continuously introduce her to new textures all of the time so that textures continue to not be an issue.

Going across this bridge did make Vada feel uncomfortable, so she reached for my hand with one of her hands and kept her other hand on the wall while crossing and then quickly let my hand go. She only wanted my support briefly and I really liked that. It meant that her confidence in herself was growing.

The "playground" had a little slide that Vada enjoyed going down.

However, she enjoyed climbing up it even more! Can you say hello Gross motor!

That mini slide really must have made her feel confident and strong because once we were out in the big kid area Vada was climbing onto and over everything! She has always been a climber, she was climbing before she was walking actually but this kind of climbing was more like a small hike for her. It made me think of taking her out on some local nature trails and actually going hiking. That may be more of an adventure for me than her but an adventure none the less!

Look how steep this bridge is! For a three year old with low muscle tone... am I just being a fool of a mom or what? I couldn't help but to admire her determination to tackle this slope and to do it all on her own. I was so proud! The whole time I was thinking how I wish Kim (her PT) was here to be excited with me because surely she would be just as proud of Vada as I was at this moment.

Getting back down the bridge made not only me nervous but Vada as well and secretly, I was kind of glad she decided to crawl down, this time.

We found more things that began with the letter 'B'. Blue butterfly wings! Actually Vada found them and asked to wear them. I was surprised she even knew that they were for wearing but she did and she wanted them on. She took about three steps before the over-sized wings fell off but she was satisfied with the fact that she had got to try them on.

There was a second pair close by where the blue pair fell off and of course, she had to try those on as well. Same story with those.

Vada discovered bells and you guessed it, I pointed out how they begin with 'B'. Actually, (and I am going to really point out my dorkiness here) it was kind of fun for me to find all of the things that started with the letter 'b' and show them to Vada. 

Our last stop, before we headed out was for Vada's driving lessons in a fire truck. Besides constantly sliding out of the seat she drove pretty well. I am fairly confident that she could get to point A to point A just fine.