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Jun 19, 2012

Fun & Learning At COSI (+Giveaway!)

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One perk of living in Columbus is having a wealth of options when it comes to entertaining your kids. Want to see some animals? Well, we’ve got the number one rated zoo in America! Want a good children’s science museum? Oh yeah, we’ve got the number one rated one of those, too!

The COSI (Center of Science & Industry) children’s science museum has been a part of Columbus for as long as I can remember. As a kid, our elementary school would take field trips to COSI, and I remembered wandering the dark hallways learning about the refraction of light or the makings of the human body or how rats could be trained to play basketball or what life was like a hundred years ago and how we’ve progressed. I still have my drawing of the space shuttle made by a robot in the early 80’s. (That robot is no longer around, sadly. I’m sure it’s no longer all that special for a robot to draw a picture when we have iPhones, but I thought he was pretty awesome.)

COSI has moved since I was a child, relocating further down Broad Street to perch on the edge of the Scioto River. It’s bigger now, with even more room to offer some pretty fantastic exhibits and classes. Cordy and Mira spent many of their toddler days in the Little Kidspace area, so I was delighted to be invited back with Mira last week to learn more about their early childhood classes.

We started off the morning in Little Kidspace for some free play time. If you’ve never been to COSI, Little Kidspace is an area designed just for the five and under crowd. Older kids aren’t allowed in to play (but they do have a holding area with some video games if an older kid wants to wait while their younger sibling plays) so there’s no chance of a big kid running over a little one or shoving them out of the way.

Someone was happy to be there.

You also have to check in and check out with the attendant at the gate – you can’t leave without the same number of adults and kids, and no kids are allowed to leave the area by themselves. This is handy when the area is enormous and you can’t always be aware of where your child is at all times, especially with more than one. The Little Kidspace area even has its own bathrooms, nursing area and snack area, so there’s no reason to leave while the little ones are playing.

Mira, of course, quickly found her way to the water tables. I always groan at having her go there, knowing she’ll find a way to soak herself. But other parents should know that they do provide raincoats for the kids, and dryers are available for free, too, if you need a shirt or pants dried and have a spare set.

When it was time for our class, we met in the Little Kidspace classroom and joined the circle. There are a ton of classes and camps and programs for families year-round at COSI. After a welcome song, we read a book together and then were set free to explore the different science stations around us. There was a goop station (cornstarch and water goop), a place to create bubble art by blowing bubbles into dyed soapy water, a building area with bricks and rocks, a sensory area with dyed, cooked spaghetti, and a nature area with bugs and worms to examine up close.

Mira loved the rainbow colored spaghetti.

Early and late in the class – the colors mixed quickly!

And the bubble art.

She looked at the worms through the magnifying glass, but wouldn’t hold any of the bugs. I also have no photos of this because I wasn’t about to get close enough to take one.

After playing for awhile, we met back in the circle for a goodbye song. We then had lunch and we were set free to explore the rest of COSI. There are so many cool areas to visit – along with an extreme screen theater showing 3D films on a rotating subject basis – that you can easily spend the entire day there.

One of my favorite areas is Progress. You step through the corridor and into a street made to look like 1898. You can play with an old cash register, see what the telegraph office looked like, step up into a buggy in the livery stables and imagine what it was like to ride behind a horse, and pretend to be an operator for a very basic telephone service before we all had data plans with our phones.

 It was dark in there, too.

Then you walk through another corridor and see the same street, only now it’s 1962!  Mira was amazed at how much had changed, while I marveled at how I remembered my grandmother’s TV looking just like the one in the appliance store and then taught Mira the basics of playing pinball in the diner.

I played with the SAME Barbie case at my grandmother’s as a kid!

Of course, telling you about COSI isn’t nearly as much fun as experiencing it firsthand, so I have four general admission passes to COSI and four passes for the Extreme Screen to give away to one lucky reader! Obviously this is more convenient for readers local to the area, but if you’re planning a family trip to Columbus at any point this year (hey, why not?), these passes are good through the end of the year.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below telling me what part of COSI you would most like to explore with your kids. That’s it, easy-peasy. One entry per person. I’ll accept entries until end of the day on Thursday, June 28, then select one winner at random. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if you’re the winner.

Good luck!

Full disclosure: Mira and I received a free admission. All opinions are my own, including the opinion to bring extra clothing if your kids want to play at the water tables. You’ve been warned.

Filed Under: giveaways, local fun, memories, Mira ·


Jun 12, 2012

Summer Camp Is Here and We’re All Happy About It

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Yesterday marked the beginning of eight weeks of peace and quiet in my house, also known as summer camp. Yes, I’m working from home, but I think we can all agree that I will get more accomplished, and the girls will have a lot more fun if they’re not with me all day.

They’re attending the same camp they went to last year. It’s expensive, but it’s worth every penny for how happy both kids are to be there and for the caring staff who understand that every child is unique and celebrate what makes each kid special.

Two years ago, when we were considering summer camps for Cordy, we looked at a few that catered to special needs children, but I felt they were too much like daycare and not challenging enough to keep Cordy’s mind stimulated. Aaron and I both felt that if we could put Cordy in a situation that (gently) pushed and challenged her, she’d rise to the occasion and grow from it.

This summer camp is based on a Montessori philosophy and places a strong emphasis on learning while having fun. When Cordy attended the first year, I was worried that she would be too much for them to handle and she’d be asked to leave. Instead, they adored her and quickly adapted to her. Everyone had a great time and that summer we saw her ability to socialize with other kids grow, along with a greater tolerance of her sensory aversions.

Last year Cordy was old enough to join the next group of kids, an older group of kids. I was uncertain if they would be as tolerant of her differences as the younger kids, or if the greater sense of responsibility expected from this age group would be more than Cordy could keep up with. Amazingly, she did great. Other kids talked to her and played with her, and her teachers found her to be charming. (Ha, where have I heard that before?)

So yesterday we packed up all of the first day of camp supplies and climbed into the car. Cordy was already anxious that no one would remember her because she cut her hair since last year. I assured her that someone would probably remember her, and that her hair is not the only thing people notice. (Mira, of course, had no anxiety and was secretly plotting how to quickly take command of her entire class.)

When we arrived, Cordy nervously stepped out of the car, glancing towards the sign-in table. One of the camp staff immediately saw her, waved and shouted, “Cordy! Hi! It’s great to see you again!” Cordy’s face suddenly glowed with the big smile on her face as she ran over to say hello and tell her all about how she was scared no one would know her because of her haircut.

Before we could finish signing them in, both kids had waved goodbye without even looking and ran for the playground.

And when I picked them up yesterday afternoon, both groaned that it was already time to leave. Cordy even had other kids helping her hide from me so she wouldn’t have to leave. (Seeing other kids playing with her was enough for me to play along for a few minutes.) Their teachers – same ones from last year – expressed how happy they were to see the girls again, and of course how much they’ve grown in a year.

Today they were just as excited to go back to summer camp. And I’m thrilled to see them both so happy and active for the summer. I’m hopeful that it’ll be a great summer for all of us.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, memories, Mira · Tagged:


Jun 1, 2012

End of School Emotional Boogaloo

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Yesterday was the last day of school for our district, and OH what a day it was. I was a flood of mixed emotions: happy that my kids were moving up in grades, distressed at what to do with them until summer camp begins, sad that we’d be leaving behind some fantastic teachers, proud of how well both girls have done this year, and seriously wishing for it all to be over because the last week of school awards and assemblies and lunches and teacher gifts to buy has me giving up a lot of sleep to fit everything in.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, Cordy tried out for the talent show. I received an email from her teacher last week asking if it was OK for Cordy to participate in the talent show by reciting a poem, and I immediately responded to ask her if she maybe had the wrong child? My daughter? Up in front of people to perform, knowing there was applause at the end? No way she’d go for a sensory experience like that. But she reassured me that it was Cordy’s idea and that they’d send her up with a group so that if she backed out it wouldn’t be embarrassing for her.

So yesterday I spent two hours in a hot gym, watching all of the talents of her elementary school. Let’s just say Adele was a very popular choice for singing this year. Finally, Cordy stepped up to the microphone. I held my breath, worried she wouldn’t go through with it. But she did. And she took a bow at the end and didn’t freak out when people clapped.

(Sorry for the tiny video. Figures I’d pick the wrong side to stand on.)

I was so proud of her. Cordy has come a long way from the preschooler who wasn’t allowed in school assemblies because she would have violent meltdowns from the noise. She now sits through them with her class, claps (and covers her ears when it’s too loud), and marches up to the stage to recite poems. I have no words except…wow.

To further cap off the year, we received her first grade standardized test scores, and the results were outstanding. They fully expect her to be a part of the gifted & talented program in fourth and fifth grades.

Smarty pants

And I also couldn’t walk through her school’s hallway without staff members stopping me to tell me some funny encounter they’ve had with Cordy. A teacher saw her in the hallway one day and told her, “You’re very Cordylicious today!” to which Cordy quickly grinned and responded, “And you look fashiontastic!”

After a lunch on the lawn, we then had to leave Cordy’s school to pick up Mira from preschool. Mira has attended a special-needs preschool for the past two years to get speech therapy for her speech apraxia. (Mira really has no issues other than her speech and some clumsiness.)

Her teacher and aide are the same ones that were with Cordy for her two years of preschool – we made sure to request them when Mira qualified for services. They’ve known Mira since she was four months old, when I started bringing Cordy to preschool each day and would occasionally volunteer with Mira in tow.

Picking up Mira was terribly bittersweet. Her teacher and aide have been a part of our lives for nearly five years, and were absolutely a large part of helping both of our daughters become the girls they are now. When Cordy first came to them, we were uncertain about her future, but after two years she was a different child who demonstrated a fantastic ability to learn and a lot more patience and tolerance of things around her. They were so awesome with her, and in teaching us how to better help her.

Mira didn’t need as much support, obviously. Her teacher considers Mira to be a “typical peer” since other than speech her development has been fairly standard. Still, Mira’s speech now compared to at the beginning is, well, intelligible. She’s understood most of the time now. The greatest hurdle was getting Mira to participate in practicing words, something her teacher figured out how to do. She saw through the crocodile tears and forced Mira to put in effort to improve.

Knowing we weren’t going to see them after yesterday was sad. Mira will likely be attending Cordy’s school next year so yesterday was it. (Oh, did I forget to mention the principal was helping us with Mira getting placed at Cordy’s school and it looks likely now? Also? YAY!) We gave the teacher and aide cards and some photos of the girls to remember them. They asked if we had plans to have any more kids soon, haha. I said we had no plans at the moment, but if we did we’ll be sure to send them to her, even if just as typical peer students.

I then had to get out of there before I broke down in tears. So we took one last photo of Cordy, Mira, and the two women who had such an influence on both of them.

Mira, aide Ms. S, Cordy, and teacher Ms. W.

It’s all over now. Cordy will be going to second grade, and Mira will be entering kindergarten in the fall.

Sigh…it’s all too fast for me.

Filed Under: Cordy, growing up, memories, Mira, school ·


May 21, 2012

Mira’s Turning Five – Everybody Jump, Jump!

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Had Mira actually followed directions, today would have been her birthday. Her due date was May 21, and I had hoped she’d be one of those rare babies born on her due date, continuing a family tradition of being born on the 21st of a month.

Instead, she decided to wait nearly a week to make her entrance so I could endure anxiety over another c-section (she was a VBAC, meaning I was required to go into labor without medical help) and enjoy one more week of being enormously pregnant and spending my nights in the recliner trying to find some small shred of comfort so I could sleep.

She was then born on Memorial Day weekend, ensuring she could never have a successful birthday party on her birthday, because everyone has plans for the holiday weekend. It wasn’t hard for the first few years – we invited only close friends and family to our house. But this year she’s turning five, and after all of the invites to her classmates parties at different party houses around the city, Mira wanted a special party of her own.

So even though she isn’t turning five until next Sunday, she had her big party this weekend at a bounce house facility. (Imagine a big warehouse filled with all sorts of inflatable things to bounce on and slide down.) This was our first adventure at having a party somewhere other than our house, and it went really well.

I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the party, most of which is due to my own issues with birthday parties. As a kid, I had just one party. I invited all of my class, planned out games and food, and wanted it to be a big, fun time. And then no one from my class showed up. The only other person close in age to me who was there was my best friend, who lived two doors down. I was heartbroken that no one in my class wanted to come to my party, and I’ve never had another non-family birthday party since. If it wasn’t for my best friend showing up, I might have given up on the idea of celebrating birthdays entirely.

Hours before Mira’s party, I started to feel that tightening in my chest. What if no one shows up? A few of her classmates had already RSVP’d that they weren’t coming, and several didn’t respond at all. We had three confirmed to attend, but I worried they’d back out at the last minute.

(PSA to all parents: please RSVP to any invites your kid receives. We had limited space and could have invited more kids if people would have responded to us.)

Thankfully, all three showed up, along with several kids from our close friends. We were well short of the 25 kid maximum for the party, but it was still a lot of fun.

Mira, of course, LOVED being the queen of the party.

No, Mira, they’re not ALL for you.

Sigh…my baby doesn’t need help opening her presents anymore.

Everyone bounced and jumped and played, even the adults. Everyone ate snacks and cupcakes. I’d like to hope that every child expended enough energy to sleep well that night. (You’re welcome, parents.) And like a good little hostess, Mira thanked everyone for coming and personally handed out the goodie bags at the end.

Overall I’d call it a success. Now if we could just get her to understand that she’s turning five, not sixteen.

Filed Under: growing up, memories, Mira ·


Apr 11, 2012

Spring Break Madness

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If you’ve noticed how quiet I’ve been this week, I have two words for you: spring break. I used to think that working night shift and sleeping during the day while the kids were home was difficult, but it turns out trying to work from home during the day while they’re home is even harder. Like, near impossible.

Monday was filled with “I’m bored” as I silently cursed that school has to give them a full week off at a time. As I tried to get work done, I reached new lows in bribing the kids to entertain themselves. They were given full control of the TV, they were allowed extra computer time, and I nearly gave in to every food demand just to buy some peace and quiet.

Yesterday I cried uncle, put in a few intense hours of work that morning, and then ordered the girls into the car to meet up with friends in Dayton. Our friends were on spring break, too, so we met halfway and went to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. Cordy and Mira have been once before, but this was my first time. It’s a very cool children’s museum that focuses on science and nature, with a lot of fun thrown in, too.

My one complaint with the museum is that it is two floors with a very open floor plan, meaning kids can easily run from one area to another, but with plenty of walls and nooks to lose sight of your children in an instant. If you’re a parent who has to always have your child in view, I’d highly recommend taking any anxiety meds before you go.

There’s also a playground area with a climbing net that goes from first to second floors, and a giant twisty slide that goes back down to the first floor.

 The net – I saw some brave parents trying to climb this thing, too.

The stairs are nearby, which means when you see your child climb to the second floor, then lose sight of them, you climb the stairs to find them only to get to the top, look everywhere, and then peer over the rail to see them back downstairs. By the time you get down the stairs – they’re up again. No amount of waiting for them to return to one level will make it happen, but a trip up or down the stairs will magically change their position to the other floor. It’s exercise for the adults.

It only took five minutes after arrival for me to lose one of my kids. We met with friends, Mira had to use the bathroom, so I left Cordy with our friends at the exhibit right inside the door, telling her to stay with them and I’d be right back. When I came back, I quickly found my friend and her kids, but couldn’t find Cordy. The exhibit only had one way in or out, and she was nowhere to be found.

There was a Staff Only door at the other end of the exhibit and for a moment I worried Cordy had decided to ignore the sign. But just then a voice came over the intercom, “Would Christina please come meet Cordy at the Admissions desk?” I looked at everyone in the exhibit, sighed, “That would be for me.” and went out to the desk. Not 20 feet away from where I was, on the other side of a wall, was Cordy, smiling and waving at me.

“I thought you were gone forever so I asked for help!” she said. I thanked the museum staff and gathered my child, completely embarrassed.

The remainder of the day was less exciting. My two kids made sure to never play together to keep me on my toes, constantly checking to make sure no one had wandered somewhere they shouldn’t. Cordy mostly played by herself, while Mira made friends with every other kid and developed elaborate games with them.

Heeey, itza me, Cordy the plumber!
Mira as judge. The scariest photo you may ever witness.

At the end of the day we had one final moment of drama. I was in the little-kids area chatting with my friends, and thanks to a wall hiding me from the main view, Cordy couldn’t find me again. It was nearly time to go home, so I went looking for her and found her near tears in the playground area. She hugged me and cried, “I couldn’t find you anywhere! I thought you’d left me!I was trying to find my way back to the front to ask for help again.” Apparently she’s really convinced I’m trying to get rid of her.

Note to self: keep an eye on this kid everywhere you go, or you will always be that parent being announced over the intercom.

(Mira, of course, hadn’t seen me in over half an hour and had no concerns whatsoever. I could have left her there until the end of the day and come back to find her still playing and complaining that I was interrupting time with her new friends.)

Overall it was a lot of fun, and succeeded in tiring them out enough for me to get some work done when we got back home. Although I was pretty tired, too.

Unfortunately, I can’t do that every day this week, so today we’re back to creative endeavors at home. Maybe I’ll teach them to clean the house today?

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Filed Under: clearly insane, Cordy, family time, kid logic, memories, Mira · Tagged: