In Which Connor Goes On A Field Trip

Today Connor's class went on their big field trip to the Hands On Children's Museum in Olympia!  And because I like field trips too, I went with the little guy.  We've been to the museum multiple times before, but never with school and never for so long-- the field trip lasted for almost three hours! 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Connor gave the whole experience mixed reviews.

We were expecting to have the whole place to ourselves, but apparently there was a miscommunication and it was open to the public.  As a result things were a little more crowded than we anticipated-- never a good thing with Connor's sensory issues.  He pulled his hearing aids out about forty seconds after we walked in the door. 

We went immediately to the toddler room, which was not quite as crowded and noisy as the rest of the museum.  I figured we'd ease into things, so we started out at the bean table with another kid from Connor's class, who dove right in. 

Connor declared that there was no way he was touching those beans.  He informed me that he was all done, and it was time to go home.

So after unsuccessfully trying the bean table for a little while, we moved on to the puppets.

Connor declared that there was no way he was touching those puppets.  He informed me that he was all done, and it was time to go home.

This was also his mantra for the train set, the water table, the marketplace, the fire truck, and the crayons.  It was obvious that he was a little overwhelmed and his sensory issues were acting up as a result.  We took a bathroom break and he immediately calmed down in the quiet, beige little room.  The only problem was that then he didn't want to leave the bathroom.  He figured we could just hang out in there for the rest of the trip.

Nice try, buddy.

I did find one thing that he enjoyed.  We sat down in the garden area (complete with a wooden "flower bed" and plastic vegetables) and he completely ignored my attempts to get him to "plant" broccoli and instead honed in on the brightly colored galoshes.  "Want, want!" he said.  So he got to put on a pair of galoshes, which made him very happy, except that he immediately saw another pair of galoshes and wanted to try those too.  We switched out galoshes for a little bit, but really he wanted to wear them both at the same time.  So I put the second pair on his arms.  This was a big hit.

So now apparently I should go galoshes shopping for Connor.  Not that he really has a need for them, but I can see the appeal.  The kid hates to have anything touching his feet, and so those things must look like armor to him.  I'll have to keep an eye out just in case I see a good deal.  If nothing else we can use them for pretend play.

Anyway we finished up back in the Toddler Room, where I forced him once again to touch many, many things he didn't want to touch.  The bus ride back was uneventful (though I did really enjoy chatting with the other moms) and we got home about 1:30pm, when the kid promptly crashed.  He was a tired little guy!

I think that overall he had a pretty good time, though he would have been much happier without me making him touch everything. 

Anybody have any galoshes (galosh?) recommendations for me?

~Jess