I took Maria to the Children’s Museum in downtown Phoenix today. It’s a big place–3 floors. My favorite was the third floor because there seemed to be more things that she could interact with. It’s a wonderful place for a typical kid, and pretty good for a special kid. I just have to get past the people who stare and the ones who look away, pretending that we aren’t there (which is what I used to do in the past, not realizing that by trying not to be rude, it’s a little bit rude, well maybe “rude” isn’t the right word…).
We did a few things; for example, we went through the noodle forest, which is a bunch of those styrofoam pool noodles hanging down from the ceiling. Couldn’t tell if she liked it or not. We painted rocks (3 big flat rocks that you could paint with water and paint brushes). There’s a kitchen with fake food. I grabbed a big mixing bowl that had bits of cloth in it and Maria played with the different sizes, shapes, and textures of cloth. There was a bin with dried green split peas to scoop and measure/weigh, she played in those for a while; I really had to keep an eye on her because she wanted to put them in her mouth. There’s a separate room for kids that are 3 and under, which was nice and quiet and had some things for her to play with, mirrors and bars to hold onto while standing, puzzles, and nice little round nests with soft pillows in them where she almost fell asleep.
Most of the things in the museum are for kids who are mobile and dexterous and sighted–tubes to crawl through, drums to play, art projects, obstacle courses, “cooking”, and “shopping”, and tons of other things. But there were enough things and places to keep Maria occupied until she was sensory overloaded. The only place I felt somewhat unwelcome was the art room, but I might have been projecting my own insecurities.
It was $9/each to get in to the museum, so we certainly couldn’t go too often, and it’s downtown, but not a bad place to go from time to time. The other place I thought about going to is the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa. It sounds smaller, but might have some interesting stuff. Maybe next week before school.
Yes, next Monday school starts. This Thursday is “meet the teacher”. I got a letter from a teacher, who I assume will be Maria’s teacher, even though it didn’t explicitly say so. I emailed her to let her know we were coming and that I’d like to meet with her Friday and I’m expecting to accompany Maria all day her first day, based on the request from the vice-principal and “intervention specialist” (special ed) that I do so. We will see…