Dino-adventure

Yesterday saw me break routine and actually go out somewhere with Paige in the middle of the day. Amazing. And we even ventured onto public transport again without promise of assistance -- double amazing.

Our Thursday adventure was an outing to the Natural History Museum with friend Liz and her two kids, 4 and 1. The adventure was made even more adventurous by the fact neither of us had working mobiles... so we had to plan *in advance* where we'd meet... and then be there *at that time*. Or wait.

Funnily enough, both of us were indeed at the right place at the right time -- and yet we STILL missed each other. Luckily after about 15 minutes of hanging and wandering inside and out the main entrance, we did connect. Phew.

The main beneficiary of our outing was Amelia, the 4-year-old, who's a real dino-phile. I'm not sure how much Paige took in, but she seemed to have a smiley day, and even napped a bit after lunch, so I think more adventures are in store. We only saw the dinosaurs at the museum -- there's only so much museum-going two moms + 3 small children can do -- but it was impressive. Much nicer than I'd remembered, and a scarily realistic animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex thrown in for fun. (well, I say realistic -- it's not like anyone's ever *seen* a T-Rex, all I've got to go on is Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs...)

As for me, the most exciting part of the day came on the ride home -- when on the tube Paige started playing 'peekaboo' with the museum map. I'd been holding it in front of my face, and pulling it away, and then gave it to her to hold for a little while. I fully expected it to go straight into her mouth... but instead she just held it, turning it over and back a few times. I then noticed she started putting it in front of her face, and then pulled it above her head -- just like peekaboo. Yay Paige!! If only I'd had a video. And of course she's not repeated it since... Ah well -- more tricks to come, I'm sure...