Aquarium

From 2010 May

This is, I think, my new favorite picture.

To give you the context, the blue is the dolphins' tank at the aquarium. I'm not sure if Nicholas was actively clapping for the dolphins or was testing his ability to take his hands off the ledge to clap while remaining standing. But, either way, he was delightfully happy, as you can clearly see in both of his faces. I love that reflection.

Anyway, as you have guessed by now, we did go to the aquarium this morning and had a wonderful time. Joe has taken Nicholas a couple times this spring, but I haven't gone in a long time and it is such a different experience now that Nicholas is older. It took us probably 45 minutes to make it past the first few exhibits because he adamantly did not want to leave them. When you first get into the aquarium there are these tubes of water that have bubbles going through them. He has always been fascinated with them, but this time he held onto one and wouldn't leave. I got bored pretty quickly and so pulled out my camera and played with it while he watched the bubbles.

From 2010 May

And he thought it was fun to peek out and "find" me.

From 2010 May

After a long time (I really don't know how long) I started asking him if we could move on. I put my hand out to him, which he always takes eagerly to walk. But not only did he not take my hand, but he turned away from me and held on tighter to the tube. We went through this routine a few times before I decided that even if he was content, I wanted to see some actual fish, and so picked him up and moved on. Luckily he is small enough that I can still do that.

We went through something similar at the first tank with fish. The aquarium is very little-kid friendly and quite a few of the tanks begin a foot off the ground, so Nicholas can stand at the tank on his own and have a great view.

From 2010 May

He again resisted all of my suggestions that we move on. It was great to see him enjoying himself so much, even if I was bored.

My only complaint about the aquarium is the school groups. From what I've heard the aquarium gets much more crowded during the summer with tourists, but I'm hoping that it will be less annoying because at least it will be individual families. Kids who I'm sure are perfectly sweet on their own are pains in the butt in school groups. Little Nicholas is standing at a tank happily watching fish when a group of 20 middle-schoolers swarm to the tank, basically smashing him against the glass and stepping on him. Not cool! Do they not see the little kid there? I was right there but they just shoved past me. Yes, I very quickly grabbed him out and he wasn't hurt and mostly just confused, but this was just the most extreme example of the ways in which the school groups ruin my experience there.

Anyway, we had a really great time. There are some more pictures in the Gallery, per usual, as well as some pictures of his playtime this afternoon, which consisted of many of his current favorites. This includes, as you can see in this picture, holding up things for us to name.

From 2010 May

And this one I just love because he is so happy:

From 2010 May