My Son John: Children's Museum

Dear Jack,

How much do I love that I named you Jack?

We went to the Children's Museum today. Your dad had the day off of work, and because you and your sister and able to enjoy very different things right now, I wanted to do the museum when there was a one to one parent-child ratio.

I enjoyed spending a lot of time with you today. You impressed me with your ability to maneuver pegs and balls into the holes that they fit so neatly into. Your attention span and ability to press on beyond your nap were amazing to me as well.

You had fun playing with various exhibits. A lot of them weren't quite to you what they might have been intended for. The kid-friendly Sudoku board, for example, became a taste-texture exploration for you.

Mostly, though, you liked the baby area with all of the balls. You found big soft balls, bouncy balls, and little balls. You would find one, walk around with it, drop it, and run after it. What fun!

You spent a lot of time, though, with these two golf balls, one for each hand.

After you had your fun in the baby area, we rejoined your dad and sister to play together. You and your sister liked the construction zone, even though you thought the hat was a peek a boo toy, not part of a dress up costume.

My favorite part was the Carmen Lomas Garza exhibit. They have had this exhibit for a while and I always thought of it as the Mexico exhibit. There is this dance/band scene, a backyard barbecue, and a kitchen where you can make faux tamales. I found the exhibit compelling and it always reminded me a children's book or something I had seen before that I couldn't quite name. Today, with your dad there to look after you and your sister, I was able to look around and actually read some of the information about the exhibit. It turns out that more than just a Mexico exhibit, it is an exhibit about the artist Carmen Lomas Garza. Her paintings, once I saw them, are pretty famous scenes from the daily life of Mexican Americans in South Texas and each setting in the exhibit is straight from one of her painting. Compare our family band with the band in her painting, Baile, particularly the guitarist behind us.

It was like we were in a painting!

Speaking of paintings, on our way to lunch I took a set of pictures of you walking downtown and then photo-shopped it to look like a watercolor. It may be my new favorite picture of you.