Alex and I flew to Baltimore last weekend to spend some time with his godfather and their baby girl. We had a great visit, even if we caught a weekend nor'easter.
The one "touristy" thing that I was really excited to experience with Alex was a visit to the National Aquarium, so I was glad to have the opportunity to go before we flew home on Monday. Alex gets such a kick out of the supermarket aquariums that I thought he would delight in all the different and exotic marine life.
This was not entirely the case.
In fact, a good 85% of the exhibits seemed to spook my little boy for no apparent reason; and since the aquarium doesn't allow strollers, I had to carry him with few spells for over two hours.
The aquarium has four floors, I think. You walk past the ray tank and go up an escalator, walk around the perimeter exhibits and end at another escalator that takes you to the next floor... etc., until at the very top there is a simulated Amazon Rain Forest basin. The main exhibit hall is quite dark, and I don't know if that was part of the problem, but Alex seemed genuinely afraid to be down and tried to scramble over my shoulder and away from several perfectly harmless exhibits -- small, colorful fish and giant bass alike. Even the puffins and the other water birds in one enclosure made him uncomfortable. When we got to the rain forest, which was bright and laced with walking paths, he became even more agitated and couldn't be escorted out fast enough. (Amusingly, when we exited the revolving doors he insisted on going back in to wave goodbye.)
On the way down, there's a four-story ramp that descends into the middle of a coral reef tank, so you're surrounded by the tank and fish on all sides. Alex didn't seem at all interested in the fish but found the RAMPS to be very entertaining. (There is a ramp at the playground we frequent and the best part of going home is getting to run down.)
There's one more level beneath the coral reef tank -- the shark tank. As a transition, when the coral reef aquarium ends the next round is lined with life-size shark silhouettes. Alex started pointing excitedly and saying "Big. Shark." (I don't even know how he knows what sharks are!), and signing for more sharks. He LOVED the shark exhibit and wanted to see more more more. I was shocked that he could be terrified of the anemones but fascinated by these huge predators.
Kathy remarked that it must be hard at that age to understand what's alive and what isn't. Then I felt like a bad mom, that maybe I was traumatizing him. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the tanks of good ol' goldfish at Meijers on our next trip.
[It's also unfortunate that I didn't get any pictures of him to document our adventure, but you try carting around a toddler and a backpack and wielding an SLR. It is the one drawback of the camera....]
The one "touristy" thing that I was really excited to experience with Alex was a visit to the National Aquarium, so I was glad to have the opportunity to go before we flew home on Monday. Alex gets such a kick out of the supermarket aquariums that I thought he would delight in all the different and exotic marine life.
This was not entirely the case.
In fact, a good 85% of the exhibits seemed to spook my little boy for no apparent reason; and since the aquarium doesn't allow strollers, I had to carry him with few spells for over two hours.
The aquarium has four floors, I think. You walk past the ray tank and go up an escalator, walk around the perimeter exhibits and end at another escalator that takes you to the next floor... etc., until at the very top there is a simulated Amazon Rain Forest basin. The main exhibit hall is quite dark, and I don't know if that was part of the problem, but Alex seemed genuinely afraid to be down and tried to scramble over my shoulder and away from several perfectly harmless exhibits -- small, colorful fish and giant bass alike. Even the puffins and the other water birds in one enclosure made him uncomfortable. When we got to the rain forest, which was bright and laced with walking paths, he became even more agitated and couldn't be escorted out fast enough. (Amusingly, when we exited the revolving doors he insisted on going back in to wave goodbye.)
On the way down, there's a four-story ramp that descends into the middle of a coral reef tank, so you're surrounded by the tank and fish on all sides. Alex didn't seem at all interested in the fish but found the RAMPS to be very entertaining. (There is a ramp at the playground we frequent and the best part of going home is getting to run down.)
There's one more level beneath the coral reef tank -- the shark tank. As a transition, when the coral reef aquarium ends the next round is lined with life-size shark silhouettes. Alex started pointing excitedly and saying "Big. Shark." (I don't even know how he knows what sharks are!), and signing for more sharks. He LOVED the shark exhibit and wanted to see more more more. I was shocked that he could be terrified of the anemones but fascinated by these huge predators.
Kathy remarked that it must be hard at that age to understand what's alive and what isn't. Then I felt like a bad mom, that maybe I was traumatizing him. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the tanks of good ol' goldfish at Meijers on our next trip.
[It's also unfortunate that I didn't get any pictures of him to document our adventure, but you try carting around a toddler and a backpack and wielding an SLR. It is the one drawback of the camera....]
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