Firsts

We had two firsts yesterday.

Edmund did his first load of laundry. He sorted out all of the light colors. Then, he gingerly climbed a step with his booty. Triumphant, Edmund loaded the washing machine and measured out the detergent. My son selected the warm water setting, turning the knob to the heavy wash setting. Finally, the preschooler started the machine.

When the wash was done, Edmund placed the wet clothes in the dryer. Hurray! Can you say one less chore? By the end of summer, I should be able to let him wash his and Spencer's own clothes. That's one more step toward Mommy Independence.

The second first that Edmund had yesterday was with his telescope. I usually set it up for him to see large objects. But, last night, he got the telescope out and set it up on the front stoop without help. Then, he carefully aligned the sights, adjusted the lenses, and re-aligned.

I thought that he was just playing around; but when he called me to check it out, he had focused on a very good image of a ring shaped galaxy. Excited, Edmund proceeded to tell me that he didn't need his star chart. Sigh, OK. We did a happy astronomy dance in the moonlight at his newest discovery.

The Air and Space Museum

The Smithsonian has two Air and Space Museums in the DC area. We took the boys to the one downtown off the National Mall. They enjoyed the Metro bus ride from the airport which dropped us off almost at the museum steps. And both boys (aged 4 and almost 2) had a blast at the museum proper.

There were tons of things to do. The airplane model that they could fly sparked toddler tantrums. Spencer, 23 months, was like Fred and Barney from the Flintstones. His little feet would start working before we put him down. Delighted, he would dart from here to there. The space shuttle replica and the rovers were his favorites. He thoroughly enjoyed the interactive room that had lots of experiences (as Edmund calls them) to try.

Edmund was thrilled to find that he could read some of the placards on the exhibits. He and bunny nearly danced a jig over the Wright brothers room. There was a life sized replica of the glider complete with navigation sticks that children of all ages could try. He had studied lift and thrust at school. So, to find them at the museum was fascinating. The astronomy section sparked a little kid commentary about the difference between asteroids and comets. We made a module to go on a virtual international space station. Robert took him to see the flight simulators. He enjoyed the ones at WonderWorks, but they had nothing on the ones at the Smithsonian!

Neither child was old enough to enjoy the National Mall. But the hustle and bustle of the capital seemed to interest them. Both children wanted to ride the train. Both children enjoyed watching the airplanes at the airport. And both boys loved the Air and Space Museum.