We promised the kids we would go do something fun if they
behaved, and they earned their treat. It’s
kind of hard finding stuff to do on a budget sometimes, but we really lucked up
this year. Groupon ran a deal earlier
this year on a membership to the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis, the home of the
infamous “real” dinosaur I blogged about previously. For $85.00 we got a deluxe family membership
including unlimited passes to their planetarium and quite a few IMAX
tickets. It basically paid for itself
the first time we used it, but the really awesome part is that the membership gets
you in free to other museums. One is the
McWane Science Center in Birmingham, which is just a few blocks away from the
infusion clinic Korban goes to. We took
him there on his birthday, after his infusion last month and we loved it. So we knew Selah needed to see it to. It’s so awesome to be able to get in for free
and not even have to pay for parking! I
even packed a cooler so we wouldn’t have to worry about lunch, or snacks
or drinks. It worked out really
well.
So we’ve been doing this infusion thing for a year in a half
now--that’s 18 times--and we feel we have it down to a science along with our
team of great nurses. We even felt
comfortable enough this time for Selah to stay in the main room watching TV
while Korban, Brad and I went with two of the nurses to a private room to put
in the IV. We go to a private room because it has a bed we can lay him on to better hold him and also because he is so loud we don't want to scare all the other little patients! Once we were all in place,
with Korban sufficiently held, it only took one quick try to get the IV in his
foot, which he prefers, but he still puts up a fight each time. Once the IV is in they push his Benadryl,
which is required for the infusion but he refuses to take by mouth, and each
time he passes out asleep almost immediately.
The fighting so hard tires him out pretty good and then the Benadryl
takes care of the rest. Once we get back
into the main room Korban likes for his daddy to carry him and then lay with
his daddy in the chair and sleep. Now
there is always this lady there who helps with special projects and such to
keep the kids happy. I think she is a volunteer, and she's very sweet. She goes around to all 10 stations or chairs
and checks with each patient to see if they would like their faces or
hand painted. Korban does not care for
this but Selah takes her up on the offer each time. So as Korban was still in the midst of drifting
off Selah went with the lady across the room to get her face painted. Selah requested for it to be a surprise for
mom and dad. When she returned her face
was painted like a beautiful little kitten.
She was so happy with herself and how it turned out that it just made
her morning to show it off, so she went around to the other patients and did
just that. Also, she spoke to me in meows for a good portion of the morning.
Korban snoozed right up until the end of his infusion, while
Selah watched Dora and bounced around some (it’s hard for a 3 year old to sit in
one location for so long you know, but she was super good overall.) Once
we got him unhooked and all of our stuff loaded, we piled back into the van and
headed on over to McWane Science Center.
Korban was very excited to be going back, and Selah was super excited
too. I love taking them to places like
this. I just love that it’s hands-on and
they can learn new things while having fun.
I prayed that it would be a good experience and we wouldn’t have any outburst
of aggression or meltdowns for Korban and that Little Miss would be good
too. I don’t take these family
experiences lightly.
Also, it’s very good to see Korban actually interacting with
the hands-on stuff and trying it out for himself. A few years ago he would only look, but we
could tell he was interested so we kept trying and now he dives right in, sorta. So exciting!
Diving in has never been an issue for Selah, we just have to make sure
she doesn’t dive so far in we lose track of her, as she usually hits the ground (or the giant piano)
running.
So we let the kids play and run around looking at all
different kinds of things. Korban’s
favorite level last time was the one with the aquarium area. (Of course it was!) He kept asking me to go look at the
octopus. I honestly didn’t even remember
them having an octopus, but he sure did.
He even remembered where the area was located and started pulling me
toward the stairs as soon as we got close saying “Let’s go see the octopus.” So we went, but unfortunately the octopus
wasn’t in his tank. I figured maybe they
had taken him out to check him or something, so I told Korban he was taking a
nap. He asked me if they folded the
octopus up to take a nap, and I said no.
I sincerely hope the poor octopus isn’t dead and folded up in a box
somewhere, so that we can see him next time we go!
They also have a stingray and shark tank where you can reach
in and pet them. They’re little
hammerhead sharks (I think that’s what their called at least) and not like
something from Jaws, and the stingrays have their barbs removed so no worries
of any danger. Korban loves stingrays,
and he will rest his hand in the water, but he won’t usually reach in far
enough to actually pet one. I found out
why yesterday—he doesn’t like getting that wet.
I’ve known for a while that he is very uncomfortable if his clothes are
wet or whatever, but I never made that connection with reaching into the
stingray tank. I kept reaching in and
trying to get him to, and then I would rest my hands on his shoulder or take
his hand and try to show him and he kept pulling away from me. He said “Mommy’s like a stingray,” and I
still didn’t understand. I finally
figured it out when he pulled away from me yet again and said “Mommy’s wet like
a stingray! You bothering me!” Ha! Gotta love improving verbal skills. Truly makes life so much easier! He was upset because my hands were wet and I
was getting him wet. So I tried to be
more mindful of that.
Selah loves the stingrays and would get in and swim with
them I think. When she was younger and
we were at the Tennessee Aquarium petting their stingrays she told me she wanted
to get a little stingray out to hold and maybe take home with us. I had to explain to her that we only visit
the stingrays, not take them home as pets.
I love touching the stingrays, but I had never gotten to pet
one of the little sharks before. The
staff always cautions visitors to be careful and use a two-finger touch. But yesterday a shark finally swam close
enough for me to touch, and I was so excited that while I remembered to just
use two fingers, I pretty much just leaned in and poked the poor shark. It actually jumped and swam away from me
really quickly. I scared a shark! Oops.
Selah’s favorite exhibit involved the large soft blocks that
you would build things with. (And climb on and jump off of, of course.) She stayed in that area for a long time.
She also liked digging for dinosaur bones and
the water feature and the sand table.
They had a big playground type area.
It was sort of like a huge tree house with lots of little tube slides
and climbers. Selah loves anything like
that, but Korban is usually kind of fearful of getting in them (enclosed spaces). He’s been getting better about this and more
willing to try things like that as long as I go with him. So off the three of us went yesterday while
Brad stayed firmly on the ground and snapped pictures. Of course he did. Once Korban found something he liked, he just
stayed in it while Selah climbed all over the place. I knew Brad was watching from the ground, but
it was a very large area and I didn’t want to lose track of her. So I kept calling for her and trying to look around
for her while I stayed with Korban to make sure he was ok. There was another little boy playing up there—maybe
around 8-9, and he was the sweetest kid.
He totally helped me keep track of Selah. “She’s over here, I see her! Climbing on the rope wall,” or “She’s on this
slide, if you lean out you can see her.” I really appreciated that kid. We’ve had several instances like that happen
in different places and I just feel like God always sends somebody, and it's very
cool. I told my aunt about this, and she
said “God’s everywhere.” I said “He sure
is,” and she said “You wouldn’t have thought about God being in a museum for
you before you had kids, but now you know.”
Which I thought was a good point.
When it was time to get down and start making preparations
to leave, the problem was I couldn’t get Korban out. He did not want to leave! I was so glad he enjoyed himself but it took
a while to talk both kids down out of that tree. Literally!
I told Brad that he better be thankful he has a short wife who can still
fit in kiddy play structures or he would’ve been paying some 12 year old to climb
up there and haul the kids down.
The only issue came when we were trying to leave and Korban
didn’t want to go. Both kids were tired and
he was asking for a drink and a snack, but didn’t want to leave. We tried to prepare him as much as we could,
and I got him to take some deep breaths and Brad offered him a sticker if he
left happily. He still got upset, cried,
screamed and scratched me a few times, but it didn’t kill our day. Honestly, I’ve had worse. We got out of there and he settled down
really quickly. Thankfully, most of his
tantrums don’t last terribly long but they are quite intense.
We loaded the kids in the van and got them settled with
drinks and snacks—water, crackers, and pineapple for Korban; chocolate milk, a
granola bar and pineapple for Selah. They
discovered a newfound love for pineapple rings.
They’ve always liked pineapple, but they like to wear the rings on their
fingers and eat them. Fruit jewelry!
As we were pulling out of Birmingham, Selah sighed sleepily
and said “That was the coolest place…” as she drifted off to sleep. That’s a pretty high compliment from a
three-year-old! As always, I’m thankful
for another chance to make happy memories.
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