So I learned a lot of valuable lessons today. Lesson Number One: Do not take a small child who is already potty trained to a museum where the bathroom is far away from the exhibits not to mention two floors down in the basement when you already know said child has a case of the runs.
Lesson Number Two: You will become your parents. I always hated telling my dad I had to go to the bathroom when we were in the car on long road trips between California and Arizona because his inevitable, irritated question was always "Why didn't you go the last time?" 
But today, when Miss Mia told me she had to go diarrhea I rushed her and little Little Li across the museum and into the elevator as fast as their little toddler legs could carry them. Once we finally got to the bathroom she told me she didn't have to go anymore. We took the elevator back up and started looking at the dinosaurs only to have her tell me ten minutes later that she had to go. I scolded her. "Why didn't you go the last time?" I said. This time she really did have to go, so how can I blame her (and yes, in case you're wondering, we did make it on time.)
Lesson Number Three: When you are trying to wean a child who is very adamant about not being weaned as in screaming, flailing limbs, pawing at your chest, etc. do not, I repeat, do not wear that cute little vintage dress that you can not zip up or down by yourself in case giving in is simply the best solution.
Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity has probably figured out the museum I went to was the beloved Naturkunde Museum, i.e. Museum of Natural History. (you can click here to read a post I wrote about it in May). And yes, even with all these lessons being learned I still has time to snap a few photos and contemplate on why exactly it is that I'm so fascinated by dead things. ;)
Because 
Miss Mia and Baby Li love it and it's only a quick U-Bahn ride away (and it only costs 6 Euros to get in), I've been spending a lot of time in the Museum für Naturkunde these days (The Museum of Natural History.) The museum is in an amazingly colossal, somewhat creepy Victorian building (but then I find most Victorian things kind of creepy...) and beautifully done, so I always liked it well enough. But still, the place also seems kind of, well, dated; I mean, I could be wrong, but I just don't think taxidermy is the wave of the future. After the fourth visit or so, however, I realized what amazing photographs you could take there. There are so many intense subjects mainly in front of neutral backgrounds. The only problem is you would need a tripod for most of them because the light is so poor. I asked one of the security ladies if I could take photographs with a tripod and she told only if I had a special pass. But photography in general is allowed. Today Jasper and I went there with the babies and I brought my camera along just to see what I could do. Like I already imagined, many of the photographs were too blurry, but some of them did turn out. Here are a few of the ones I like:
Still, I definitely don't feel like I'm done with the place inspiration-wise. I think I will find out what it takes to get this "special permission" pass to use a tripod. Maybe it's just a formality and not anything that costs any or much money. We'll see...
So I learned a lot of valuable lessons today. Lesson Number One: Do not take a small child who is already potty trained to a museum where the bathroom is far away from the exhibits not to mention two floors down in the basement when you already know said child has a case of the runs.
Lesson Number Two: You will become your parents. I always hated telling my dad I had to go to the bathroom when we were in the car on long road trips between California and Arizona because his inevitable, irritated question was always "Why didn't you go the last time?" 
But today, when Miss Mia told me she had to go diarrhea I rushed her and little Little Li across the museum and into the elevator as fast as their little toddler legs could carry them. Once we finally got to the bathroom she told me she didn't have to go anymore. We took the elevator back up and started looking at the dinosaurs only to have her tell me ten minutes later that she had to go. I scolded her. "Why didn't you go the last time?" I said. This time she really did have to go, so how can I blame her (and yes, in case you're wondering, we did make it on time.)
Lesson Number Three: When you are trying to wean a child who is very adamant about not being weaned as in screaming, flailing limbs, pawing at your chest, etc. do not, I repeat, do not wear that cute little vintage dress that you can not zip up or down by yourself in case giving in is simply the best solution.
Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity has probably figured out the museum I went to was the beloved Naturkunde Museum, i.e. Museum of Natural History. (you can click here to read a post I wrote about it in May). And yes, even with all these lessons being learned I still has time to snap a few photos and contemplate on why exactly it is that I'm so fascinated by dead things. ;)
