Eureka!

I took little bear to Eureka - The National Children's Museum on Saturday.  It wasn't an unrivalled success.

I think I had a clue that it may not be the most successful when little bear nearly fell asleep on the bus to the museum.  He was tired, tired, tired, tired.  I am expecting a growth spurt as now would be a perfect time for him to suddenly go up a shoe size or two after being the same size for six months but his new school shoes being less than a month old. 

So when we were walking around and there were loads of buttons and levers and thingies and wotsits all around to push, pull, touch, climb and generally enjoy, little bear had the attention span of a kitten in a feather factory.  It was not a learning experience.  It was a 'ricochet around the exhibit like a ball in a pin ball machine and push, bash, pull and grab all you can reach' experience. 

Little bear was also pushing his luck a little.  I can accept him going a little way ahead, and I don't insist on hand holding all the time in the museum, but he always has to be within line of sight and he always has to be within easy calling distance.  There were a few moments when he got a bit giddy.  However on the whole little bear was quite well behaved.  He sat nicely as he ate lunch.  He sat nicely on the bus.  He sat nicely on the train after exploring all the possibilities of the public toilets on the railway station (well, not quite all, but he gave the hand drier a good work out).

Can I mention that if you go to the cafe there, you need to be focused.  There is one, count it, one list of things to go in the 'Eureka Child's lunch bag' with two or three mandatory and half a dozen either/or choices (not all of which were available).  I couldn't retain the information and had to keep going back and trying to work out what was needed while little bear was fizzing around.  And the adult menu is also well hidden, so I had to make do with what I could see.  Little bear was being good, but he was fizzing a little bit and I was hoping that refuelling him would help calm him down.  I was wrong. 

The museum is fantastic, but not with a tired child, and I was glad to take him home.  I was exhausted myself at this point, which is the only explanation I can think of to explain around £20 spent on stuff from the Body Shop which I don't actually need.  Little bear also got a little irritable on the way home and took exception to me dragging him out of the way of pushchairs and stag do parties as he weaved his tired way across the pavement. 

I will be taking him back - hopefully when he is a little more rested.  I think he will enjoy it just as much again.