Se Hace Camino Al Andar

This morning, we all woke up around the same time, that is, Alice time, including me, since I didn’t have insomnia last night, miracle of miracles.  I made the usual Saturday morning pancakes, and after breakfast, we wondered what to do with this rainy day. We thought about going to The Carle, where we have a membership but Alice usually only lasts about an hour there before she’s ready to head home. We decided to head west on Route 2 and pay a visit to MassMoCA. The last time we took Alice there, she wasn’t yet walking and so it was a very grown-up oriented visit.

But for a 20 month old, the museum is a veritable playground. After having lunch at the cafe,  where Alice and I shared a cobb salad, we wandered briefly through the temporary exhibits, too conceptual to hold Alice’s interest and headed for the Sol LeWitt collection upstairs. This exhibit, if you haven’t seen it, is a natural attraction for babies and kids alike because it’s all about color, shapes and patterns. I’ve been asking Alice to identify colors and when I asked her where purple was, she yelled “Purple! Purple!” and went looking for him (her?). It was hilarious and I wish I had video of it! We do, however, have video of Alice wandering the exhibits; you can see the video here!

The visit ended at the Kidspace, where the exhibit was art made of candy. I was a little worried about it as Alice LOVES candy and I didn’t know if she would understand that this was not candy she could eat or take home with her!  She was obsessed with one artwork displayed on the windowsills, a depiction of a coral reef made out of froot loops, marshmallows and cheetos.  Amazingly, she was so good about not touching any of it, though she did get awfully close, thanks to a step stool.

She went back and forth between the windowsills for at least ten minutes, just looking and counting. Counting what, we don’t know and it wasn’t in numerical order, either. We finally managed to get her away from the windows and to the craft table. We needed a rest and at least, we could sit at the table! The kids there were gluing all manner of junk food to pieces of paper, and I’m pretty sure that this was Alice’s first time working with glue. Hilarity ensued on my part when Alice became frustrated with bits of food getting stuck to her fingers… *shake shake shake whine whine* I was nice and stopped laughing long enough to bail her out, don’t you worry!

We knew it was time to go when she had a meltdown upon being told that she couldn’t take the candy home with her. I carried her out of there kicking and screaming, snot running down her face, the whole nine yards. I said to the girl at the front desk, as I carried a screaming Alice out the door,  ”This is how you know you did a good job, when they don’t want to leave!”  She looked alarmed at the mess I was hauling but she did chuckle.

I cleaned her up, she calmed down and asked for her blankie, but was given a cookie instead, much to Henry’s consternation. Yes, mommy is a pushover. Whatever! Let’s move on…

We wrapped up our rainy Saturday with pasta fagioli, the ingredients of which I miraculously had on hand in the pantry and fridge, and a fresh loaf of bread that I shaped, rested and popped into the oven as soon as we got home (a win for Artisan Bread in 5!).  We packed Alice off to bed early tonight because we were all exhausted and drained but tomorrow, we’re looking forward to a visit from the Grandmas and brunch at The Hope + Olive.