DPK: Jackson the Runner

After a very low key day at home yesterday, I was ready to get out of the house today.  Once I picked Jack up from preschool, I let him choose our indoor adventure (mall, library, rec center, museum, or baking at home).  He quickly requested the museum.

The kids are pretty easy to manage when the babies are in the stroller.  Clearly the triplets can't go anywhere and Jackson is pretty good at following directions. I generally let Jackson take the lead in the museum and the babies and I follow him.  Now that the babies are becoming more interactive, I want them to have opportunities to play as well.  It's unfair to keep them confined in the stroller for hours when there are so many appropriate places for them to play.

Unfortunately, Jackson is in the habit of coming and going as he pleases.  He can no longer do that if I have all three babies on the floor.  I'm pretty fast, but it still takes a few minutes to pick up and buckle three babies in the mammoth stroller.  Jackson walked away three times today.  In his defense, the museum has an extremely open floor plan and he is used to wandering throughout the areas.  He wasn't being mischievous; he simply wasn't paying attention.  The final time resulted in another mom volunteering to "keep an eye on the babies" when I couldn't find him and had to literally search for him.  Yes, I embarrassingly became that mom who loses her kid in public.  Ugh!  I also became that mom who pulled her kid into a quiet corner and promised to leave immediately if he left my sight again.  He held onto the stroller the rest of the afternoon.

In spite of Jackson walking away, we all managed to have an enjoyable afternoon at the museum.  We spent a fair amount of time in the play restaurant where Jackson served us pizza and salad.  He accurately named every fruit and vegetable.

He insisted that all five of us eat some salad.  Amelia obliged.



I was really proud of Jackson's math skills.  I'm not sure if math just comes naturally to him or if he has learned that much from UmiZoomi.  Jackson was able to correctly answer 80% of my questions:

• How many slices of pizza do you have?
• How many slices of pizza do I have?
• How many slices do we have altogether?
• Does Jackson or Mommy have more pizza?
• How many more slices do you have? (He missed this one. Subtraction is a hard concept.)

Moving on...James became Jackson's patient in the doctor's office while the girls ate in the stroller.  James didn't care what Jackson did to him as long as his lunch was free from disruption.

Because James is our only sitter, he was able to do more things than the girls.  He drove the tractor and the fire truck.  And by "drove", I mean he licked the steering wheel.  Oops.

All three babies had a chance to play in the fitness center.  This area has a rock climbing wall, balance beams, and various equipment.  I was happy to find a completely secure and entertaining place for the babies to have tummy time. (Notice that I have to hold Maddie's hip and lower back to prevent her from automatically rolling over.)

Hopefully, Jackson will learn patience and give his siblings more opportunities to play so they can all have fun at the museum.