Xander Outing

Xander was quietly excited with going with me and Casey today - in the car on the way to pick Casey up after school, he was alert and talkative - really, he chattered, mostly about going on a Jiichan outing...

When we picked Casey up, as I was pulling away from Crest, Casey commented that today's outing was unusual because he's not used to being in the car with a three year old, he's used to being with six year olds...! - Xander didn't respond to this, tho when I asked him what he thot about being with us he said he was glad to be going on a Jiichan outing...

Casey presented the case to Xander for us to go to the Science Factory, and Xander was excited just hearing about it - Casey explained it was a place where there was a lot of science exhibits, and it was near the University's stadium - on the way down Jefferson, he asked me where the stadium was, and I explained it was across the Ferry Street Bridge near the duck ponds, where we'd fed the ducks that one time....Xander was in part in awe just being in the car traveling with us...

At the Science Factory the two played sometimes together with one of the interactive exhibits, with Casey understanding some of the point of the exhibit, Xander without a clue but being enthralled by the flashing lights and bouncing balls and whirling whistles....at other times, it was like parallel play, with Casey doing his thing with an exhibit, Xander playing with something else, and in those times, neither seemed aware of the other, and only somewhat aware of me and my presence, tho in this Xander being new to the setting was moreso than Casey...

Casey did spend about 20 mins in the little puppet theatre sitting on the floor playing with the hand puppets, while Xander was elsewhere - one puppet especially, an oyster with wobbly eyes, held his attention for a long while....both were into the one section of exhibits where there were machines that blew and sucked air moving plastic balls and tennis balls thru pneumatic tubes, depositing the balls in various places with them bouncing off of various types of materials - in a way these were mesmerizing, and Xander loved pushing the buttons to activate them, again and again and again and again...

We were there for maybe 90 mins, non-stop - Xander asked about all the machines we worked with, wanting to know what they did and why...! - Sometimes Casey was there, so he explained the point of the exhibit - other times, I explained - mostly Xander didn't understand them, as they were more complicated than he could grasp - that didn't matter, as he was caught up in the bright lights, the bouncing balls, the whirling whistling mechanisms, the iguana, the cars rolling down an inclined plane, and the toddler's area with toys more to his style and liking....just before we left there was one exhibit that intrigued Xander - a rug padded sound-proofed closet with a closed-circuit TV where you'd go in and shout and scream, and the machine recorded the decibels of your noise-making - the closed-circuit TV was to insure that you could see what was going on inside at all times, to avoid a child freaking out....I don't know how loud anyone else could scream, but Xander scored a 92.5 in decibels for his yelling - I did have him cover his ears when he screamed, as there was a warning that above a certain level there could be ear discomfort - cautious me, I had him cover his ears before he screamed...

Around 3:45 I ushered the two out, and we headed for McDonald's with the play structure out on 11th - a bit of traveling, but not more than our usual outings - there, Xander ordered a chocolate sundae, Casey a cone, and we shared a medium order of fries - Xander ate a lot of fries, and maybe 1/2 of his sundae - Casey and I share part of his sundae when he ran out of room...

It was a successful outing, and both Casey and Xander had a ball, Casey in a fun return to a place that he likes, and Xander with the discovery of a new and exciting place, a place he said on the way home he wanted to return to...

Xander was exhausted by the time I dropped him off - Casey, too, was tired - it had been a nice but long day...

Jiichan...